Lyrical Hearts
by Xamusel - Gamma 11
Summary: Due to a change of fate, a four-year-old Nanoha inherits a Keyblade from Aqua. When the Jewel Seeds start showing up on Non-Administrated World #97, will Nanoha and her friends stop what could possibly be the biggest threat ever? Rated M for possible future content.
1. Chapter 000

**Disclaimer:** Almost absolutely nothing about this story belongs to me in any way, shape, or form. The idea came from a friend of mine who shared with me the basis for it. That's about all for the disclaimer.

 **Xamusel: First of all, a word of warning to all of you who are reading this story I'm telling. I won't be purely going the same style as a typical Kingdom Hearts story, nor will I be going the same style as a typical Nanoha story. This is purely because, as this is a story that crosses over between the two story types, it's meant to merge them together to form a Newtype of story…**

 ***just now notices the pun***

 **Okay, what does it say about me that I tend to think about Gundam more often than not these days? At the very least, I should try to make sure that no more puns come up in these author notes from here on out.**

 **Let's see, what's next…? Oh, right! I'm currently in the process of working on a crossover between Nanoha and a fusion between MS Girls and the Universal Century. Here's hoping I can finish that story well enough too.**

 **Oh, one last thing, guys. This story will feature yuri and straight pairings. There would be more to say on that front, but it was deleted, since… issues.**

 **Alright, guys… shall we begin, then?**

#

 **Lyrical Hearts**  
 _by Xamusel_

#

Chapter 0: Maidens Shouldn't be Underestimated

#

 _Midori-ya_

 _Uminari City_

 _Non-Administered World Number 97 (AKA Earth)_

 _1115 Japan Time, March 15th, 2009_

#

Takamachi Shiro was currently making pastries for the customers of his recently opened store after being cleared from the hospital. He was a black haired, angular faced, and brown eyed man, wearing a white apron over a burgundy shirt and tan slacks, who was known in the bodyguard business as the Blooded Guard Devil due to his high success rate of ending opponents and keeping his charge safe and sound. Sure, baking pastries wasn't an exciting job like his previous occupation, but it was safer, and he preferred to stay safe. Of course, since he was recovering from the strenuous activities of being a bodyguard, he needed to take it somewhat easy on himself… hence why he was doing something like making pastries.

' _Well, it certainly beats putting my life on the line multiple times in a day,'_ Shiro thought, even as he worked on finishing the cake he was creating at the moment. ' _Then again, I'm sort of concerned that I don't know what happened to some of my friends, especially someone who I saw as a daughter… how_ is _she doing?'_ When he was about to grab the plate the cake was on and put it on display for the customers to see if they wanted it, the front door chime chose that moment to sound.

Shiro paused in mid-motion, to decide which to do? Then with a shrug, he decides to see to the customer first. Walking over to the front of the store, he proclaimed as he did so, "Welcome to the Midori-ya! How may we help… you…? Momoko, why did you enter through the front door?"

Takamachi Momoko, a brunette with amethyst eyes, in a cream-colored sweater and a pink shirt and skirt, walked up to the counter before she said, "I have something to do, so I'll be late coming back to the shop." She took out a pad and a pen from her purse, saying when she was done, "Do you know if we have what we need for here? Do we need to get anything to tide us over at all? I'm thinking of doing some shopping to make sure we have everything we need for a few days at least."

Shiro put a hand to his chin, before he spoke to his wife, "You know, we _do_ need to get more sugar, as well as some other sweeteners for the pastries. If it wouldn't trouble you to get them, I'll supply you a list of what we need here and how much we need of it."

"Alright, Shiro," Momoko said, a sweet smile on her lips and eyes closed. "I'll wait here for your end of the list." Opening her eyes again, she handed Shiro her pen and pad. "Please make sure that everything we need is on the list."

Shiro nodded, a slight sigh escaping his mouth. "Yes, Momoko," he said, walking with the pen and pad to the back of the shop. As he made his way to check the stock and figuring the date of the next delivery and how many days that is off, his thoughts were interrupted when he heard a strange noise coming from nearby. The sound was as if someone was actively using a matter-antimatter engine, which is not a so pleasant thought, in the general vicinity. ' _Strange… what_ was _that?'_ he thought.

Going out the back door to investigate, Shiro saw that the different trash bins looked like they had been thrown onto their sides and their contents scattered all over the ground by the same violent action. When he moved to put one back up, he heard what sounded like a groan from one of the dumpsters in the immediate area.

Carefully putting the one trash bin right side up, Shiro began a cautious and careful investigation to find the source. There were eight dumpsters, one of them toppled over, but mercifully empty. After checking the two to his immediate left, he started back for the ones that had been on his right when he heard a light bang on one of four dumpsters further across from him and further to the left.

Carefully, he approached the nearest one, with its lid open. A cat jumped out suddenly, looking frazzled, meowed in a way that would have made him laugh if not for how the situation might be serious, and then it bolted. Looking down inside, he could tell it wasn't this one. Then a loud bang echoed from the next one that made him jump a good seven or eight centimeters into the air.

"What the…?!" he asked out loud, before he went to the dumpster in question, finding it closed for some reason.

With calm, and a readiness he thought he wouldn't need anymore, Shiro slowly began opening the dumpster.

Inside, he found a woman with medium-length blue hair that was parted to her left, blue eyes that were slowly opening back up, and a slender figure with a decent bosom, wearing what looked like a black sleeveless one-piece tunic, with the legs cut off just below her hips, with thigh-high black stockings. She had white forearm-length fingerless gloves, silver-and-black boots, and a white sash around her waist with a blue skirt extending down from the sash on all sides except her front. There was some white stitching on the sides of her tunic, and what seemed like a purple strap crossing over her chest.

While _not_ exactly what he was expecting, it was close enough to _what_ he was expecting. A person.

It only took the milliseconds for Shiro to process and realize something was very, very, _very_ wrong with this situation before he acted. "Miss? Are you alright?" he asked the mystery woman. "Nod if you're alright, shake your head if not."

The woman nodded, before she asked, "Where… where am I? And who are you?"

"You're in Uminari City," Shiro answered, raising an eyebrow. "As for my name, it's Takamachi Shiro. I take it you're not from around this neck of the woods?"

The woman shook her head. "I don't think you'd know where I came from," she said,

"Try me," Shiro said, getting her attention. "I've seen plenty of strange things happen in my life until now."

"Like…?"

"Well, there was this one time I faced off against a Nekoshou that was trying to hit on my lesbian cousin, who was a known transvestite," Shiro admitted. "Apparently, Nekoshou are a dying race, and _this_ particular one wanted to have babies from my cousin, thinking she was a guy… let's just say, once I threw the fight and properly explained that my cousin was cross-dressing, that Cat spirit was quick to bug _me_ for children!"

"Uh…"

"Then there's the time that I had to go through a whole army of fox spirits who were between me and a client I had, which came because I accidentally left him unprotected while I went to the restroom, and I _barely_ got him out of there with his life _and_ his dignity intact," Shiro continued. "It's weird, because the man was under an aphrodisiac that would've made him bang the nearest lady and her friends, and he wouldn't have been able to live after the steamy session was done due to how much fluid he'd have lost by then… I had to knock him unconscious to keep him alive."

"That sounds like—"

"This one's a doozy, though," Shiro rambled, so engrossed with his stories that he didn't let the woman continue. "One of my nieces had a nasty case of disappearing. She was walking home from school one day, preparing to train in the sword under my sister, when she was purported to have gone through a dead end alleyway and not come back out. To this day, nobody knows where she could've gone, since there were no doors on either building from the alleyway."

"Where was that disappearance?"

Shiro paused in his narrative for a bit. "I believe it was Nishinomiya," he said at last, his eyes scrunched while thinking back on the day. "My niece was named Mikami Mizuki—"

A gasp came from the woman, before she exclaimed, "Uncle Shiro?!"

 _That_ caught Shiro off-guard. "Why are you calling me 'Uncle Shiro' all of a sudden?" he questioned. "Do I _know_ you from somewhere that would make sense?"

"It's me, uncle!" the woman insisted. "I'm your missing niece, Mizuki!"

Shiro, looking dubiously at the woman, said, "Prove it. Tell me something only Mizuki, or anyone from the Fuwa clan 12 years ago or earlier, would know."

"I remember that you had an affair with a shady woman, who responded to the name of Kaori, who gave birth to your son, my cousin Kyouya, and robbed you blind shortly afterwards—"

Shiro's eyes widened in shock. "Mizuki?!" he exclaimed, before he remembered she was in the dumpster. Pulling her out, he demanded, "Where have you _been_ the last 12 years?! Your family was worried _sick_ over your disappearance! You were even reported as _dead_!"

"Well…" Mizuki started, before she glanced to her right. "There's someone else here."

Glancing to his left, Shiro found out who was watching the preceding events. "Momoko, what are you doing?" he asked.

Momoko looked sheepish, before she answered, "W-Well, I was about to ask who the woman was, but that was taken care of already." Walking over to the two next to the dumpster, she asked Mizuki, concern tinging her voice, "So, what happened when you were abducted by who or whatever it was?"

Mizuki glanced downward for a bit. "Honestly," she admitted, "I don't think I should say anything on the subject right now… who knows who could be eavesdropping?"

Momoko, after a few moments of pondering, turned to face Shiro and asked, "Do you mind if I take her home and find out what she went through?"

Shiro waved his hand. "It's alright," he answered as a stench wafted up to his nose. "Although… you might want to give her a bath soon."

Momoko turned to face Mizuki. "Please, follow me," she said, motioning her head to the direction of the car, before she led her niece there.

#

 _Takamachi Residence_

#

Momoko finished driving Mizuki to the house, which took about half an hour because of the traffic in the business district of Uminari, before the two of them exited the car and arrived in front of the Takamachi household. When they walked into the house, she pointed toward the direction of the bath, before asking, "Do you remember how to take a bath in traditional style?"

Mizuki looked at Momoko for a brief time, before looking at the bathroom. "It's been quite a while since I last had a bath in traditional style, auntie," she answered. "I'll need some help on this one…"

Momoko nodded in understanding. "Well, it'll take some getting used to, I can assure you," she said. "Now, I'll be there momentarily to help you, Mizuki, since I'm sure you need an extra change of clothes for when you get out of the bath." With that, she walked off to get a spare outfit for her niece, leaving her to go to the bathroom.

#

 _Forty-five minutes later…_

#

After the bath, which Mizuki decided to take longer than normal simply because she had literally forgotten just how good a long, hot soak could feel. She had to be showed how to take a proper bath again, though it wasn't hard to remember once she went through the motions. Now, though, she is wearing an old pair of gym pants and a bluish-gray shirt as she walked around the house having been told to get some rest and relax now that she was back. Since she had landed in a dumpster of all things, she had needed the bath, but what she had been up to prior… _That_ is what made her in need of some rest. She was built far too tough to take any injury from landing in a dumpster. And it wouldn't be the first time that happened either. Not everything she did was in nice, wide open areas afterall.

But, now in fresh clothes, she decided it would be a good idea to explore the house, unsure of what things were that a normal native would take for granted.

First off, she decided to investigate the living room TV, to see what she should watch. When she turned it on, she saw that it was playing a TV movie… wait, were those men _kissing_?! She quickly turned it off and proceeded to leave the room.

The second thing she did was look for the kitchen in the house. It might have been a while since she had last made something to eat from a normal kitchen, but it shouldn't be so hard as to require a fire extinguisher, right?

Once she found the kitchen, she looked in the refrigerator and found some eggs and milk. Reaching inside the fridge, she got a couple eggs to make herself some scrambled eggs, plus the milk to make them fluffy. After placing the required materials on the counter, she closed the fridge and looked for the materials needed to whisk the eggs and milk together.

After a few minutes of looking around, she finally had the metal bowl to whisk the eggs in, as well as a fork to whisk with. Cracking the eggs and putting the yolks in, she added the milk to the concoction second, before she started whisking away. It took a couple minutes from the start to do so, but she finally finished doing what she needed to.

The next step was to put the concoction in a frying pan, which she got out and put on top of the stove… although there was a step she feared she forgot. Eventually, she remembered that she needed to turn the stovetop on, so she turned on the spot she needed. At that point, she put the eggs in the frying pan, and started stirring with a spatula.

It was about half a minute into stirring that she smelled the first sign that she had made a mistake… a disgusting smoky stench. All of a sudden, the _second_ sign things were wrong made itself known, as the whole house became engulfed with noise that threatened to burst her ears! Then the final sign that something was wrong happened… the eggs ignited and turned into flame!

Momoko couldn't have arrived any sooner to fix _that_ fiasco.

#

 _1245 Japan Time…_

#

"Let that be a lesson, Mizuki," Momoko lectured sternly. "Next time you're making eggs of any variant other than an Eggs Benedict, remember the oil in the pan, unless it's specifically a non-stick pan."

Mizuki looked down at her feet, while tears were trying to escape her eyes. She _had_ taken cooking classes earlier in life, but it seemed that this was proof that she was _never_ meant to be in the kitchen at all.

Momoko's facial expression, which, while not stone hard, was stern for the purposes of the lesson, softened up considerably as she saw what her niece was going through. Without any warning, she pulled Mizuki into a hug, surprising the younger woman. "Don't worry, Mizuki," she said. "I know what it's like to make mistakes like this. Let your anguish out… you need this."

Mizuki proceeded to cry her heart out onto her aunt's shoulder at that moment. While she was crying, Momoko proceeded to rub her back, in order to get the sadness out of Mizuki's system.

A couple minutes of crying later, Mizuki's tearing stopped, and—

"Mom, who's the other woman with you?"

—a young man's voice began to speak up.

Momoko looked at her son, who was the speaker, and said, "Kyouya, this is your older cousin Mizuki. I understand it's been a long time since you last saw her, but—"

"Auntie," Mizuki said, "he was only two years old when I went missing. I'm sure he wouldn't remember me."

Kyouya, wearing a gray shirt with a logo for a TV show that Mizuki wouldn't have heard of before and a pair of jeans, looked at her intently for a few moments. "How did you go missing, exactly?" he asked, trying to get some clear idea what was going on.

Mizuki turned her attention completely to Kyouya, walking forward to him somewhat as she said, "I was walking home from school in Nishinomiya, about to pass by an alleyway between two apartment buildings that was a dead-end alleyway, when I saw something out of the ordinary. Being a little girl who knew nothing of the subject at the time, I decided to investigate, which led to my disappearance. I had walked into what was called the Corridor of Darkness and locked myself inside from that end." Seeing the confused looks on her aunt and younger cousin's faces, she clarified, "It's a dark place, where people who aren't properly shielded are meant to become one with the Darkness, and the only way out of it would be by means of these pillar-like doors that would deposit you in a random location. I was lucky to be evicted from there and found by a swordsman."

Kyouya's interest seemed to pique at the last part. "You're a swordswoman?" he asked. "What rank are you?"

Mizuki shook her head. "I don't think it would apply here, Kyouya," she said. "My Master wasn't one to use ranks for his students. He was the Master, and the students were labeled as Apprentices until they passed the final test, in which case they were fellow Masters."

' _Even so,'_ she added in thought, ' _ever since I was seven, I have missed this world I called home. Does that mean I want to undo my days as an apprentice under Master Eraqus? No, it doesn't, even if it might seem that way.'_ With a sigh, she thought, ' _Great… Aqua, you have_ really _got to get out more, explore the different worlds out there. Why was I unable to go out more, exactly? I think it had to do with my apprenticeship, if I'm not mistaken.'_

Mizuki—er, sorry, _Aqua_ —then began contemplating her assigned mission. She had to make sure she found Terra, hopefully before things started going straight to Hell, but that was proving to be incredibly difficult. While she knew that Terra was _somewhere_ in the multiverse, she didn't know where at, specifically. The last she realized, she was about on her way to the Land of Departure again, when, all of a sudden, she found herself crashlanded back in her home world!

Granted, she didn't exactly leave home on _bad_ terms, but she didn't know how to react to the fact that she was home after so long. Even so, she wasn't sure she _should_ be home, since it seemed like her family was all but dead… everyone but her uncle, who seemed to take his wife's surname, and his children. There was hardly anyone to let her dig her roots in for, even if she wanted to get married eventually, and her duties as a Keyblade Master trumped everything else at this point… she needed to properly pass the baton to the next generation, she realized that, but who—?

Suddenly, Aqua felt a bright Light in the area of the property. ' _What the… who has the sheer potential for Magic and for the Keyblade as that?'_ she thought. Before she could spread her senses outward, to find the source of the Light, however…

"Hell-o~! Earth to Mizuki," Kyouya declared, waving a hand in front of her face.

Blinking rapidly for a couple seconds, Aqua asked, "Y-Yes? How may I help you?"

"I was asking if you wanted to spar with me in the dojo," Kyouya answered, "to see how good you are with a blade." Leaning into her face, he asked, "Are you alright, Mizuki? You weren't focused on our conversation just now, so I thought—"

"I'm alright, really!" Aqua denied, laughing it off. "So, a spar, right? I'd love to, really, but…"

"But…?" Kyouya inquired.

"I sensed something in the immediate area that I need to check up on," Aqua answered. "If you don't mind, I'd better go take care of that, Kyouya."

"Are you sure, Mizuki?" Momoko asked, causing the two teens to look at her. "I mean, if you _are_ going to spar Kyouya, you'd need some extra rest, since you _did_ crash land in a dumpster while showing up here…"

Kyouya did a doubletake at Mizuki when he heard that. "You crash landed in a _dumpster_?!" he asked incredulously.

"Yes, yes, laugh it up while you can," Aqua said, somewhat sour about the whole incident. "Still, I don't see what's wrong with a simple spar, auntie."

Kyouya chuckled at that, with Aqua looking at him. "Oh, believe me," he said, "I won't be going easy on you _just_ because it's a spar. I hope you're alright with that much… and the use of bokken without armor."

Aqua nodded at that. "I've dealt with worse," she said, leaving out _what_ worse she dealt with. "Still, I need to check up on what I sensed, so I'll be back in a bit." With that, she walked towards the area where she believed the Light was, before she stopped in front of a clearly occupied restroom. Waiting for a few seconds, she turned back and walked over to Kyouya, asking, "So… which way to the dojo?"

Kyouya raised an eyebrow for a bit. "You stopped yourself… why?" he asked.

"I didn't want to disturb whoever was in the restroom."

#

 _An hour and a half later…_

#

The sparring teens were both huffing and puffing, the fight having concluded slightly earlier. The fact was that Aqua was quite clearly able to best Kyouya, but not without some difficulty. Still, with all said and done, Aqua was able to get a good read on her cousin's fighting style and how it could use some work.

"Say, Kyouya," Aqua began, after recovering her breath.

"Yes, Mizuki?" Kyouya replied after recovering his breath.

"You wouldn't happen to know about a Mikami Miyuki, would you?" Aqua asked. "I mean, since she's my little sister, I have to make sure she's alright…"

"Ah," Kyouya replied. "Dad adopted her, so she goes by Takamachi Miyuki now."

" _Really_?!" Aqua asked, her tone fitting her surprise at the news. After a while, her face shifted to a thinking position as she continued to ask, "What happened?"

Kyouya's face turned slightly downcast. "Terrorists attacked a large family gathering," he said. "Miyuki was the _only_ child there who survived. Your mother swore to get revenge, so she let dad take care of Miyuki while she went to go after the terrorists, as dad and I were the only ones who didn't make it to the _massacre_."

Aqua's own expression shifted to that of shock for a few seconds when she heard that. "Did the terrorists get away with it all this time?" she eventually asked, her face darkening slightly.

"They did," Kyouya replied. "There haven't been any leads towards bringing them in."

Aqua shook in barely suppressed rage. Before she could do something she was likely to regret—

"Big brother?" a little girl's voice came in through the open door of the dojo. "Mother wanted me to tell you Miss Tsukimura's waiting… for… you… who's the big sister?"

"Ah, Nanoha," Kyouya said, smiling as he turned towards the brown-haired girl at the door. "This is our cousin, Mizuki."

Aqua looked at Nanoha and felt her eyes widen involuntarily. The sheer amount of Light shining off of the little girl… it was astounding! "Um, Kyouya?" she asked. "When was Nanoha born?"

"Umm… about four years ago, I think," Kyouya replied after a moment. "Why?"

Aqua opened her mouth to speak, before she realized that she had no idea where she was going with that. Drooping her head, she said, "Never mind."

"Umm…" Nanoha, wearing an orange jacket and a tan skirt, said, stepping into the room. "I… it's nice to meet you, Miss Mizuki."

"Likewise," Aqua said, walking over and bending down to Nanoha's level so she could ruffle her hair. "How about we say things about each other that we like?"

Nanoha nodded, a small smile on her face. "Well… I… I like your hair, Miss Mizuki," she said. "It… it really matches your eyes…"

Aqua blinked her eyes owlishly, before a smile graced her features. "I'm glad to hear that, Nanoha," she said. "I like your hair, too. It really feels silky."

"Th… thank you, Miss Mizuki…" Nanoha replied, blushing slightly.

Kyouya, at that moment, took a look at his phone's clock and felt his eyes widen involuntarily. "Uh-oh…" he said, shocked. "I guess I'll have to get going, Mizuki. I'm late for something right now…"

Aqua turned to face Kyouya and said, "Have fun, Kyouya."

"I hope to," Kyouya said, before he walked fastly out of the dojo.

"He's meeting with Tsukimura Shinobu," Nanoha told Aqua after Kyouya had left. "They like each other a lot."

Aqua nodded in understanding. "I thought that's what it was about," she said. "Now that I understand, how about we continue talking about things?"

"Sure," Nanoha replied.

#

 _Over an hour later…_

#

"So your name right now is Aqua?" Nanoha asked.

"Y-Yeah," Aqua answered. "I don't know how soon until I can inform the others of my current name, but I hope to soon."

"It's a very pretty name," Nanoha said with a smile.

Aqua nodded, a small blush on her face. "Well…" she started, unsure of where to go from there. Eventually, she decided to say, "I can feel something coming off of you in waves, Nanoha."

"Ummm… you can?" she asked.

Nodding, Aqua thought about how to explain what it was she was feeling. "I can feel that there's a very distinct, _bright_ light coming off of you," she said at last. "Not only that, but you have a huge potential for the magical arts as well. That's about what I determined at present."

"R… really?" Nanoha asked. "Me… using magic?"

Aqua nodded, before she produced her Keyblade from thin air in her right hand, startling Nanoha a fair bit. "Um… oops," she said. "I didn't mean to scare you, Nanoha."

"I… it's fine…" Nanoha said. "It's… actually quite pretty…"

Aqua blinked in surprise, before she chuckled. "I've never heard anyone call a Keyblade 'pretty' before," she admitted. "Still, if you wish to have control over your magical potential, I'd recommend that you take this."

Nanoha nodded, before walking up towards Aqua and the weapon she was holding.

"In your hand, take this Key," Aqua said to Nanoha, reciting the words as if by ritual, holding the weapon out hilt-first towards the four-year-old girl. "So long as you have the makings, then through this simple act of taking, its wielder you shall one day be. And you will find me, friend—no ocean will contain you then. No more borders around, or below, or above, so long as you champion the ones you love."

There was a brief pulse of light from the hilt as Nanoha grasped the key-shaped weapon, but apart from that, nothing happened, even as Aqua released her own grip on the weapon.

Aqua nodded, before she said, "I hereby declare you to be a Keyblade Apprentice, Nanoha. Please, be careful from here on out."

"Th… thank you, Miss Aqua…" she said, even as Aqua took her Keyblade back. She knew Nanoha would awaken her own Keyblade in time.

#

 _Meanwhile_

 _Superintendent's office of the Time Space Administration Bureau_

 _Administrated World Number 1 (Mid-Childa)_

 _Roughly the same time as what happened in Uminari City_

#

A man who looked to be in his declining years, with blood red eyes and semi-prominent facial hair around his fanged mouth, was typing away on his computer, getting ready to deploy orders to some of the TSAB's best soldiers to promote them to better positions, when he felt something… _change_. Deciding it was time to investigate, he pulled out a small dagger that looked like it was made out of gems and focused his magical energy into it, allowing him to look at alternate versions of the various worlds in the sphere of influence of the TSAB. What he saw was… well, not _quite_ enough to make him gape in shock, but that would've been a tough thing to do.

"Well, _that's_ interesting," he said out loud after a moment to clear his head. "Here's hoping that this change doesn't threaten the work I put into keeping the TSAB afloat, or that Presea Testarossa doesn't try anything for a _long_ while in comparison."

At that moment, a woman's voice sounded over the intercom. " _Superintendent Schweinorg, your 3 o'clock showed up,"_ she said.

Turning on his intercom, the Superintendent said, "Thank you, Grace. Please inform Mister Hibiki that I'll be right out." With that, he put away his dagger, heading for the door to see an eternally Lost Boy.

#

 _Meanwhile (again)_

 _Thousands of worlds away_

#

Presea Testarossa, a nearly middle aged(?) woman with lavender hair and purple eyes in what was a purple and black magic-canceling outfit called a Barrier Jacket that showed off a fair amount of skin between her breasts, around her navel, and at her hips and thighs, was standing in front of a computer terminal, typing away at it as information filtered through the screen, a scowl on her face. None of her plans to bring her daughter back to life were going right! It seemed that, at this rate, she'd have to resort to using a clone to collect a bunch of Lost Logia and bring her daughter back _that_ way!

Finally, she pounded the computer she was working on, her anger reaching its limit. "All this work was for _nothing_!" she yelled in rage. "I don't have _time_ to waste any longer! I have to bring my daughter _back to life_!"

At that moment, an old man walked up behind her, asking her, "What's wrong, madam? Did you not know that there's a way to revive your daughter here in this very castle?"

Turning to face the old man, Presea snarled out, "Who the _bloody hell_ are you?!" At that point, she got a good look at the man, who looked like a stereotypical elderly wizard, with a beard reaching down a few inches from his chin, from some backwater world, wearing a deep blue wizard's hat with golden crescent moons and stars, as well as a deep blue robe with some lighter blue stripes going down the front… even though that was all she got out of the situation, her mind was too clouded to see the old wizard was too powerful for her to face, even _with_ her conditional SS-ranked spells. "And _why_ are you even _here_ , you old backwater wizard?!"

The wizard pointed at himself and said, "My name, madam, is Yen Sid. As for why I'm here, I was invited by the owner of the castle you snuck into, to help give his students a lecture. You just happened to be along the path for some reason." Pointing at Presea, he asked, "What's your name and the name of your daughter?"

Presea brought up her staff as if in self-defense, pointing it at Yen Sid. "As if _you_ can get that information out of me so easily, you old _geezer_!" she cried out. "I don't know what sort of magic you'd try doing with my head, but you _won't_ be able to get anything out of—"

"What's going on, here?!" a somewhat younger man called out from the doorway. "Who is that woman, and why is there a little girl in a suspended animation tube near her?!"

Both Presea and Yen Sid turned to face a middle-aged man in a periwinkle lab coat, holding the hand of a little boy about seven years of age, who was in a white lab coat… even if the little boy's lab coat had the sleeves rolled back. The middle-aged man had slicked back long blonde hair, a goatee, and a short moustache on his face. He also had orange eyes that were slightly peaceful, although one could tell he was annoyed by looking in the eyes, too. As a final distinction, he wore under the lab coat a dark grey vest, white collared shirt, and a violet ascot, as well as black pants and shoes… plus a variant of a red sweater wrapped over his shoulders.

The little boy, however, had sky blue hair that went over his right eye, although the left eye looked like a light shade of aqua. He also wore a black, V-neck shirt with a white collar under his lab coat, as well blue pants and navy blue shoes… and he was eating ice cream with his free hand.

Before Presea could open her mouth to answer, Yen Sid answered, "This woman, Presea Testarossa, wants to bring her daughter Alicia back to life, but is not in any sane state of mind to raise her properly."

Presea turned to face Yen Sid and demanded, "How did you _know_ that?! I never _said_ anything!" It was then that she finally registered the last part of what he said. "And what do you _mean_ , I'm not in any sane state of mind to raise my daughter?!"

Before anyone could say anything, the boy let go of the middle-aged man's hand and placed his palm in Presea's direction, chanting one word that caused her to faint as the effects took in.

" **Esuna."**

#

 _Five hours later…_

#

It was with a groan that Presea woke up from the fainting spell. The first thing she noticed upon waking was that she was out of her Barrier Jacket and in a sleeping gown. The second thing she noticed was that the bed she was in was too royal for her standards. The third and final thing she noticed was…

"Ienzo, I know what you were thinking, but what if she _doesn't_ wake up?" a middle-aged man asked someone.

"Master Ansem," a young boy, possibly Ienzo, said, "I know that she was possessed. If Esuna doesn't work, then nothing short of killing her and then bringing her back to life will."

"Even though we used up the _last_ of our Phoenix Downs to bring the _child_ back to life?" the first speaker, this 'Master Ansem', countered.

…she was _not_ alone.

Opening her eyes while facing her left, the first thing she saw was a vaguely familiar head of blonde with red eyes, wearing a sky-blue dress with a white line running down the front. When the little girl, as her instincts told her she was, noticed her eyes opening, she gasped out loud and turned to face someone at the foot of the bed. "Onii-sama!" she called out. "Mom's awake!"

"…what?" Presea asked out loud. "Do I even have… children…?" At that point, she felt an overload of information hit her head. "What… the…?" she gasped out, once the information overload had subsided. "Alicia? Is that you?"

"Glad to see you're awake, madam," an elderly voice said to her from her right. Turning to face the owner, she saw an old man with an archaic wizard's look that seemed to fit the image of a wise advisor, even if he didn't have a mustache to go with his other and _long_ facial hair. With the elderly man was a somewhat younger man with a goatee and mustache, as well as slightly peaceful orange eyes, who was giving her an appraising look. "My name, in case you have forgotten, is Yen Sid. With me is Ansem the Wise, ruler of this part of reality, and one of his students, Ienzo Lacrimona. We were having a rather… difficult conversation before you blacked out, and it was for the better that it happened, due to what we discovered was in your blood."

"My… blood?" Presea asked, confused at that.

"Tell me," Ansem the Wise spoke up, getting her attention. "Were you working with a chemical known by the atomic number of 468?"

Presea furrowed her eyebrows for a short bit, before she started thinking back on the incident. "I… was, actually," she answered. "I was given a deadline for a prototype energy generator, and said deadline was in a few days at most, so I was forced to hurry it up by my superiors…"

"Said energy generator was for a chemical that, by rights, produces a poisonous insanity substance when used as an explosive force," Ansem spoke up in a lecturing tone. "Anyone who wasn't killed by the blast would've been made completely insane, as their life was slowly stolen from them _each and every day_! You're lucky that the life stolen from you was only 25 seconds a day."

Ienzo, who had remained silent and on Presea's left, coughed into his hand. "I checked your physical age with a special ability I have," he said. "Do you know how old you are now?"

"I'm 28," Presea answered immediately, turning to face Ienzo.

Ienzo shook his head. "Not according to this," he said, producing a hand mirror to show Presea her face. "Calendar-wise, you're almost fifty. Physically… well, not even close."

Presea looked at the face on the other side of the reflection. She blinked when it did… and it was the face of someone who was legitimately 70. "You're _kidding_ , right?" she asked Ienzo.

Ienzo gave a stare that simply asked, 'do I _look_ like I'm kidding'?

Alicia looked at Presea and asked, "Mom, when were you going to give me a little sister?"

Presea turned to face Alicia and said, "W-Well… soon, I hope, Alicia. I need to figure some things out about that…"

Ansem coughed into his hand and said, "I hope you don't plan on going out with anyone, Miss Testarossa, what with your physical age being too old to date anyone…"

At that point, a bright flash of light erupted from around Presea. When the flash subsided, her body was much, much, _much_ younger than 70… by 42 years.

"Well, color me impressed, Ienzo," Ansem said, pride entering his voice. "I didn't know your healing magic could do that."

Ienzo, looking around confused, asked, " _Was_ that me?" After seeing everyone look at him pointedly, he sighed. "Yeah, I didn't know, either."

Presea looked around again. "Um, what do I do _now_?" she asked.

Before anyone could stop her, Alicia asked, "Mom, how about giving me a perfect little sister that I can help take care of?"

Everyone's attention went to Alicia at that, eyes wide and mouths agape, before Ansem the Wise chuckled wholeheartedly. "I suppose your daughter has a good point, miss Testarossa," he said. "You might want to humor her soon."

Presea was about to retort to that, but she stopped herself. She thought about it, and the benefits outweighed the drawbacks by _far_. "Okay, I suppose I _should_ give you a little sister," she said to Alicia. "Who knows? She could be a slightly younger you."

Alicia couldn't cheer loud enough at that rate.

#

 **Xamusel: FINALLY! It's been almost a month since this story was started! I started writing this on the ninth of June… guess how difficult it was to keep on track for this?**

 **Now, this is normally the part where I'd say something about my plans for the future, but I don't know how to best go about that part. If I knew what to say, well, I'd say it here.**

 **By the way, guess who showed up near the end? Here's a hint: a Magic shares his middle name as one of its titles.**

 **Well, onto other matters… I am also in the process of writing out a multi-cross between the Nasuverse and what is commonly labeled as X-overs. I don't have all the details written out for that, much like I don't have all the details written for this, either.**

 **Now… here's the one guy who talked me into writing this story. Here's Takeshi Yamato!**

#

 **Takeshi Yamato: I'm not gonna give notes like this after every chapter, so I'll do my best to say all I need to say.**

 **I don't know too much about the KH series except what I read from fanfics and Wikis - I tried playing the first KH game several years ago, renting it from Blockbuster, and while I enjoyed the first couple of introductory stages, when it got to the point where I got to choose a world to go to next, my choices were Olympus Colosseum (Might have been interesting to try, if I had been able to** _ **get past the first room**_ **), Alice in Wonderland (one of the weirdest Disney Movies ever) and Tarzan (Great music, mediocre movie, and some of the in-game arrival circumstances just made me go NOPE). So, I turned the game back in to Blockbuster, and swore to never touch the games again with a 10-foot pole. That said, I found fanfiction of the series intriguing, and most of my knowledge of the series comes from them. If I find my interest piqued by a particular character or topic, I'll look up the KH Wiki for info.**

 **I find KH a bit more bearable when it's crossed over with other stories. It was sakurademonalchemist's 'Memories of Nobody' (pretty good crossover with Harry Potter) that first got my muse into a KH Mood. I wanted to see someone do a crossover between KH and MGLN where Nanoha got a Keyblade, and Engineer4Ever's 'The Light in One's Heart' gave me the idea to use Aqua and the Keyblade Inheritance Ceremony. That said, I knew I wouldn't be able to do much with the story, myself, given how all my KH knowledge is second-hand, and likely incomplete, so I offered the idea to Xamusel here, to either give a try himself or to pass on to someone else. Obviously, he's decided to give it a try, and I'm tagging along for the ride to serve as an advisor/beta reader - it's about all I** _ **can**_ **do. I've also shared the idea with sakurademonalchemist, who's trying it out under the title 'Divine Heart' (Currently it's just part of her KH Drabbles, but hopefully she can go full-length with it). Though if anyone else wants to try this idea, feel free - just let me know that you're doing it, and what the title of your attempt is, so I can read it myself.**

 **That's about all from me. I hope you all enjoy. :D**

#

 **Xamusel: Well… this chapter had to go through the wringer a bit to get up to a more professional standard. Sorry to those who actually liked the older version, but, when you try getting someone who aspires to be like Edgar Allen Poe on the scene to help revise things, you get this. So, I hope this improves the chapter considerably.**

 **Also, please note that Presea, in this version of events, is meant to be somewhat like her INNOCENT counterpart. I say "somewhat" because, as I still need to read that manga, I can't make any guarantees on her being exactly like her INNOCENT counterpart from here on out. I'll get back to you all on that subject when I have the time to go through the manga.**

 **Now, then, what else…? *thinks for a few seconds* Well, other than the fact that I couldn't think of a more appropriate replacement for "onii-sama", I can't think of what else to say.**

 **Until next time. Keep on Braving!  
-Xamusel**


	2. Chapter 001

**Xamusel: Okay, on the same day that I published the zero chapter, I decided to work on this first chapter of Lyrical Hearts. Normally, I'd have more to say, but I don't at present.**

 **…wait, that's a lie. I have at least a couple things I can think of saying, the first few of which are in reply to those who decided to review this story. The first reviewer wrote (and I'm paraphrasing):**

" **Ranma ½, Kingdom Hearts, [Type Moon], and Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha… I can definitely see the massive chaos coming."**

 **Let's be honest here, the reviewer was very much correct! I might have been cackling in response to seeing the review, but it's mainly because of how true the statement was, in all honesty.**

 **The second reviewer wrote (and, again, I'm paraphrasing):**

" **How many series will this cross over with?"**

 **My reply to that review? Technically, as many as I can realistically get away with. Honestly, the Ranma ½ part was just a one-time reference... at least, it's supposed to be a one-time reference, anyway.**

 **The third reviewer, a guest reviewer, wrote (this time, however, I'm not paraphrasing… just fixing a couple spelling errors in the review for pasting here):**

" **I will admit that I did not see Zelretch coming, For once he's not the one responsible for the crossover, also Momoko is a bit too ooc for my taste.** **"**

 **I will safely say that I have goofed up on Momoko's personality in this story the first time around. I have (hopefully) fixed that issue in the story itself by now. Still, yes, Zelretch is** ** _not_** **responsible in any way for the chaos that is bound to happen. If anything, in this story, he's going to be the one to try** ** _fixing_** **the mess that made this story. Good luck, Zelretch, you're gonna need it.**

 **The fourth reviewer, who, while a good friend of mine, didn't leave the review because I bugged her, wrote (no, won't paraphrase this one, either):**

" **Wow, this story is really promising! So… Mizuki is actually Aqua from the KH verse, huh? I really hope we get to know more about her later on. and I think your description and the pacing of events are well done. So, I hope to read the next chapter soon! Bye!"**

 **I thank you for the review, Lily, and this is indeed the next chapter I have been writing all this time. I hope this doesn't disappoint at all, either. By the way, good thing the description and pacing of events are both well done for you. I don't want to end up making a cosmic scale mess of things… *shudders***

 **Next, I'll be using some songs from other anime for the story arc-based tracks that will come into play here. The first of these tracks is a song in a Studio DEEN anime adaptation… yes, I** _ **know**_ **how horribad Studio DEEN is! The reason why I decided to use anything from one of their anime adaptations is because the song is really, really,** _ **really**_ **an example of "a pearl in a pigsty"… or however the saying goes. I don't recall the exact saying.**

 **Now, where was I…? Oh, right! Not only will there be a track for the opening portion of the chapters every 13 or so chapters, there will also be a couple tracks to go in the middle of the chapters, as well as an ending track. You'll see soon enough which tracks I plan to use for this season of the story.**

 **One final thing I can think of is, whenever italics are used in narration and it's** _ **not**_ **a song's lyrics, that's Nanoha's perspective on the matter. I hope this clears up any and all confusion.**

… **oh, there's just one more thing. I updated the prologue to hopefully be better, somehow. I hope you of new blood look into it and give reviews for it as well.**

 **Well, with that said, time to get back to work on this story! Now, with that said—**

 ***accidentally presses a button on his computer that played a specific set of noises***

— **The Wheel Of Fate Is Turning! Rebel 1,** _ **ACTION**_ **!**

* * *

 **Lyrical Hearts**  
 _by Xamusel_

* * *

 _Millions of people live beneath this expansive sky. It is often no surprise that each and every person has feelings that can and will collide with other people's feelings. However, what can be surprising is that everyone has three components to their life: a Body, a Soul, and a Heart, the latter of which is the most important thing to keep in mind. It is where all our feelings can be found, and the memories of how our emotions work reside there, too. If one were to remove the Heart from a person's Body before the Soul goes in this world… I fear for us all._

 _Now, everybody, the story of the Lyrical Hearts is about to start!_

* * *

 **(*Insert music for Will by Chihiro Yonekura*)**

 _yume no kuni wo sagasu kimi no na wo  
dare mo ga kokoro ni kizamu made  
kanashimi norikoeta hohoemi ni  
kimi wo shinjite ii desu ka?_

 _owari ga nakute mitsukerarenakutte  
mayottari shita keredo  
kizutsuita koto ushinatta mono  
itsuka wa kagayaki ni kaete_

 _koukai ni kesshite makenai tsubasa ga kitto aru kara  
kimi to nara doko demo ikeru ki ga suru_

 _yume no kuni wo sagasu kimi no na wo  
dare mo ga kokoro ni kizamu made  
kanashimi norikoeta hohoemi ni  
kimi wo shinjite ii desu ka?_

 _hitoribocchi ja ikite yukenai tte  
ano toki oshiete kureta  
chikaku ni atte mo kikazu ni ita  
hontou ni taisetsu na koto_

 _kono sora no hate ni nani ga matte ite mo  
kitto daijoubu  
sono hitomi ni utsuru mirai kanjiteru kara_

 _yume no kuni wo sagasu kimi no na wo  
dare mo ga kokoro ni kizamu made  
guuzen ja nai unmei no naka de  
kimi no kiseki wo shinjiteru  
yume no rakuen wo sagashinagara  
hashiru kimi wo mitsumeteitai  
hokoritakaku kegare wo shiranai  
kimi wo shinjite ii desu ka?_

 _yume no kuni wo sagasu kimi no na wo  
dare mo ga kokoro ni kizamu made  
kanashimi norikoeta hohoemi ni  
kimi wo shinjite ii desu ka?  
yume no rakuen wo sagashinagara  
hashiru kimi wo mitsumeteitai  
kokoritakaku kegare wo shiranai  
kimi wo shinjite ii desu ka?_

* * *

 _Uminari Central Park_

 _Uminari City_

 _Non-Administrated World Number 97_

 _2330, April 26th, 2020_

* * *

A blob of sentient slime was charging towards a clearing in the middle of the park, going after a victim that had incurred its wrath. The victim was a young teenage boy with sandy blonde hair, green eyes, tan pants, a green shirt, and a tan quasi-overshirt with green symbols on it. What with the victim being in a precarious position, the slime was ready to strike at the boy as soon as it could get there.

While it was aiming at reaching the boy, said person was staunching the flow of blood from his wounded left leg, which had been cut while attempting to evade the slime. With the fact that the boy was struggling to fight back, he looked around for signs of where the slime would show up, which didn't take him long to do. When the slime sought to show up and kill the boy, he took out a red jewel and held it between his fingers, a complex circle shaping into existence as he gathered his magic into it.

"Ethereal Echo," the boy began to incant, "become light! Forbidden monster, enter this sealing circle!" As the blob of slime charged him, even jumping up into the air to crash into him, the boy finished chanting with, "Jewel Seed Seal!"

As the blob of slime crashed into the sealing circle, the magical energy of the circle started glowing brightly, before the blob started flying backwards and into the air a couple meters away. While it was waiting to land, small balls of gunk fell to the ground, all from the slime ball. Finally, it landed and trudged off, weakened from the effects of the attempted sealing.

The boy, once he had finished using the circle, fell to his hands and knees. "I let it… get away…" he said, pain entering his voice. "I need to… chase after… it…" With that, he completely collapsed to the ground, unable to continue what he was supposed to do.

" _Someone… please hear my voice…"_ he called out telepathically. " _Lend me your strength… with my magical… power…"_ With that, a green glow surrounded him for a few seconds, before the glow shrunk down to the size of a ferret and then vanished, leaving the boy as a ferret, and causing the red jewel to fall to the ground beside him.

* * *

 **(*Insert Music for Innocent Starter by Nana Mizuki*)**

 _hiza wo kakaete heya no katasumi  
itsumo fuan de furuete ita  
"hontou" wo shiru koto ga kowakute TOBIRA wo tojita_

 _yasashii uso ni ibasho wo mitsukete yume no naka ni nigekonda  
daremo shiranai kodoku no umi wo fukai ao ni someteku_

 _sabishisa kakusu ichizu na omoi  
kimi no KOKORO wo kizutsukete iru_

 _hitomi no oku no himitsu suikomaresou na egao no ura no shinjitsu ni  
yawarakana ai boku ga todoke ni yuku yo  
furetara kowaresou na nukumori ga ima kako wo hanare afuredasu  
zutto soba ni iru kara kanashii kage ni madowanaide_

 _kodomo no you ni tada akogare wo  
motomeru dake ja nanimo mitsukaranakute  
taisetsu na mono miushinau dake_

 _"atarimae" to ka "futsuu" no naka ni kazarazu aru shiawase wo  
mamoreru chikara te ni iretai to massugu ima wo ikiteku_

 _mayou koto nai shisen no saki ni ukabu kotae wa sou "hitotsu" dake_

 _yoake no akai sora ni niji wo egaite yami wo subete tsutsumikomu  
chiisana yuuki kotoba wo koete yuku  
mirai ga torawaretemo tooku kietemo kono inori wa hateshinaku  
arinomama no kimochi wo kimi no moto e tsutaetai_

 _"hajimari" kureta kimi ni sotto sasayaku  
futari dake no yakusoku wo  
kawaru koto no nai eien no mahou  
mirai ga torawaretemo tooku kietemo  
sunda koe ga oboeteru  
boku no namae wo yonde  
ano hi no you ni waraikakete_

* * *

Arc 1/Chapter 01: Is this what you call a Keyblade Apprentice's "mysterious encounter"?

* * *

 _Takamachi Residence_

 _0430 the next morning_

* * *

It was at the crack of dawn when Nanoha's cell phone alerted her to the time with a sound like a violin…

 ***CRASHITY CRUNCH BOOM***

…being played by a monkey.

"Ugh…" Nanoha groused upon sitting up in her bed. "Why did I agree to do that to myself?" After a bit to fully wake up, she said to herself, "I even had such a weird dream, too… there was a boy who sounded like Fukuyama Jun, fighting a blob of slime that seemed intent on killing him. What was _that_ all about?"

At that moment, there was a knock on her bedroom door. "Nanoha, did you forget to switch the alarm on your phone to something else _again_?" Momoko asked through the door.

"Y-yes, mother," Nanoha answered from her spot in bed. "I swear, I keep on forgetting to switch the alarm because of how beat I am by the end of the day."

A slight pause. Then, from the other side of the door, Momoko asked in a super sweet tone, "How about you switch the alarm now to something that won't disturb the rest of us in the house?"

Nanoha opened her mouth, mainly to voice her objections, when she stopped her voice. _'Uh-oh,'_ she thought. _'Mother's in her "Don't question me if you want your sanity intact" mode again. I never thought I'd be put into_ this _position so soon, but…'_

"Nanoha?" Momoko asked, getting her daughter to snap out of it.

"I'm alright," Nanoha answered. "I'll change the alarm for my phone right now." Right when she said that, she grabbed her cell phone and changed the alarm setting to play a different tone.

 ***JUST WILD BEAT COMMUNICATION***

"Nanoha?" Momoko asked through the door. "What tone did you select this time?"

"Um… the theme song for the 1995 Gundam series New Mobile Report Gundam Wing?" Nanoha replied, unsure if that was the right tone or not.

Momoko sighed through the door. "Okay, this is something I'm sure we'll have to look up eventually," she said. "Just make sure to get ready for your training today. Your father wouldn't want you to skimp on it, would he?"

At that moment, Nanoha sped through daily routine of getting into her training uniform, which was simply a white martial artists uniform, and hurrying out of her bedroom in under ten seconds, somehow avoiding hitting her mother in the process.

 _I'm Takamachi Nanoha. A high-schooler who goes to the Uminari Central High School. As for the Takamachi family, I am the youngest of three children._

* * *

 _An hour and a half later…_

* * *

Nanoha, her overly long hair going off in a pair of high sideways ponytails, was panting heavily from her morning routine of training under her father. This time, since Nanoha had managed to master the basics of the Fuwa-ryu Kenjutsu School techniques as of before bed the previous night, Shiro had decided it was time to teach her the first of the school's secret techniques.

As for _why_ Nanoha was learning how to use the family style, well…

* * *

 _Over eleven years before…_

* * *

"Say, Mizuki," Momoko spoke up in the living room. "I was curious, but are you going to spend the night?"

"I'm thinking about it, Auntie Momoko," Aqua said.

"I see…" Momoko acquiesced. "So, I heard from Kyouya that you had been trained in a different school of Kenjutsu than you were raised in. Care to explain what that's about?"

It was at that point that Shiro came into the room. "What's this about Mizuki being trained in a different school of Kenjutsu?" he asked, curiosity piquing his tone.

Aqua pondered how to explain it briefly. "Master Eraqus wasn't too fond of killing, so he taught me his own style of fighting to dilute some of what I had already learned."

"Hmm…" Shiro uttered, a hand to his chin. "I see what you're saying, yes. If your sensei isn't keen on the idea of killing, that would indeed be a problem if you were trained under him from your young age, especially given what training you already had."

At that point, Nanoha walked into the room and asked, "Big sister, could you possibly teach me how to use a sword like you do?"

Aqua looked at Nanoha. "I'm not staying for too long, Nanoha," she said. "I have to leave again tomorrow morning."

"Aw…" Nanoha pouted.

"So you'll be staying the night, then?" Momoko asked.

"I think so, yes," Aqua replied. "Might as well get a bit of rest before I head out again."

"That sounds like a good thing," Shiro nodded. "So, let's see what could very well happen tonight."

With that, the others nodded in agreement—

"Father, could you possibly train me in how to use a sword, instead of big sister?"

—until they heard Nanoha ask that question.

"Er, Nanoha," Shiro started, suddenly feeling very nervous, "are you sure about this?"

"Mhm," Nanoha nodded, "I'm sure about this. I want to be like big sister!"

Shiro pondered this, before he said, "…I suppose I could… but there are a few conditions, though."

Nanoha cocked her head inquisitively. "What conditions would those be, Father?"

Shiro lifted a finger up. "First of all, you'll need to be willing to wake up at half-past 4 in the morning," he said. Lifting a second finger, he said, "Second, you'll have to do a lot of exercise to get your body adjusted to using a sword in any form." Lifting a third finger, he continued, "Third, you need to carry your training gear on your person at any and all times, on the off-chance you need to help make a citizen's arrest." Lifting finger number four, he said, "Finally, under no circumstances are you to abuse your training by using it to hurt or kill innocents. Am I clear?"

"Yes, Father," Nanoha replied, before a confused look crossed her face. "Only… what's a citizen's arrest?"

"A citizen's arrest, Nanoha," Momoko spoke up to answer for Shiro, "is what happens when there's a criminal who is threatening others in some way, and someone outside of the police force helps take the criminal out of the picture in a way that lets the police arrest the criminal."

Shiro nodded at Momoko, before kneeling down to Nanoha's level. "I'm glad you wish to learn how to defend yourself," he said. "Now… how about you start by familiarizing yourself with a bokken in the dojo?"

"Okay!" Nanoha nodded enthusiastically, before she rushed over to the dojo, Shiro going with her to make sure that she could get a bokken.

* * *

 _Back in the present_

* * *

"Good work, Nanoha," Shiro commented from his position in the dojo. "It looks like you're ready to use the Mugen no Happō-ken. I'm proud of you for getting this far."

 _This is my father, Fuwa, now Takamachi, Shiro. Not only is he the owner of the family coffee shop in front of the train station, Midori-ya, and the central pillar of our family, but he's also a very feared swordsman from a couple decades back._

"Th-thank you, father," Nanoha said. "How do I perform the Mugen no Happō-ken?"

Shiro took that opportunity to walk to the sword rack and placed his bokken back, before pulling out a katana. Unsheathing it, he said, "In the Fuwa family, our power flows through our bodies to become a part of our weapons. All you need to do to use this technique is to focus your intent on a metal blade, while tracing the kanji for Fire on the base of the blade with your index and middle fingers of your free hand, where the blade meets the hilt." Placing the scabbard away, he then used his free hand to do exactly as he described to Nanoha, conjuring flames from the blade itself!

Nanoha jumped backwards slightly, before she calmed down enough to ask, "What happens if one were to try this on a bokken?"

Shiro shook his head when he heard that. "I wouldn't recommend it, Nanoha," he said. "You might not know this, but there's a very specific rule about wood and fire like that." Seeing her about to say something, he held up a hand to forestall the subject. "I know what you're thinking. Fire burns wood, which is true, but the fire as produced by a member of the Fuwa family is quite… explosive, shall we say, when put in contact with a wooden blade."

Nanoha blanched when she heard that. "Is that… so?" she asked.

"Unfortunately," Shiro answered, nodding gravely.

Nanoha walked over to the sword rack and put her bokken back, before she—

"Breakfast is ready, you two!" Momoko called out from the other side of the dojo doors. "Get it while it's hot!"

—started heading out to the house with her father.

 _And that was my mother, Takamachi Momoko, who woke me up earlier, as well as makes breakfast for us. She's one of the people in charge of all the sweets at the Midori-ya. She's beautiful and kind, my beloved mother!_

 _Oh, and by the way, Midori-ya is our coffee shop at the marketplace in front of the train station that sells various cakes, cream puffs, and different types of coffee. It's a really popular shop for girls coming home from school and ladies around the neighborhood._

* * *

 _Half an hour later…_

* * *

Nanoha had gobbled up her food and raced over to the bathroom to get cleaned up. Granted, practicing how to fight with a sword was a very tiring and dirtying activity, so she _had_ to hurry up with eating so that she could get a good soak in the tub. At the very least, though, she felt this was the right way to enjoy her bath… by making sure to boil away her excess body fat.

 _'Honestly, I don't know_ what _it is about women in my family and their tendency to be drop dead sexy,'_ Nanoha thought. _'What I_ do _know is that my food intake had gone to my hips and my boobs more than it had gone to my waist… what's up with_ that _?'_ Shrugging, Nanoha got out of the bathtub and proceeded to dry off, lest she turn into a raisin or something equivalent. When she finished drying off, she replaced the white ribbons holding her hair in place and started putting her clothes on, making sure to check for if anyone was going to use the restroom. When she was about to put on her uniform's brown shirt with its yellow ribbon, having put on her black skirt and the rest of her clothes already, there was a knock on the door. "Yes?" Nanoha called out from her position.

"Nanoha, are you done with the bath yet?" a man's voice called out through the door.

 _That would be my big brother, Fuwa, now Takamachi, Kyouya, who is currently taking correspondence post-graduate courses at Tokyo University while he has the time. Nominally, he would be my instructor in the family school of swordsmanship, but he was still a student under dad at the time._

"I'm almost done now, big brother," Nanoha called out, walking over to the bathroom door while putting the shirt for her uniform on. "Why? Does Miyuki need to toilet?" Upon opening the door to the restroom, she saw that her brother, in a white button-up shirt and sweatpants, had some cleaning supplies in hand. "…do I even _want_ to know?"

"Miyuki came home late and threw up on her bed," Kyouya answered. "I'm surprised you didn't hear it, given how light a sleeper you are."

Nanoha winced. Ever since Nanoha took to the sword, she was trained to be a light sleeper, so her using the phone alarm system was usually as a last resort to get her up. Still, to hear that Miyuki came home late without her knowing about it…

"I had a weird dream, big brother," Nanoha answered, a slight tone of unease in her voice. "I usually don't have dreams that intense, but this was an exception."

Kyouya looked at Nanoha with a concerned gaze, asking, "What was your dream about?"

Nanoha looked her brother in the eye and answered, "Sorry, but I don't have time to talk about my dream right now. Perhaps after I get home from school?"

Kyouya nodded, before he walked in the bathroom, Nanoha walking out past him. Before he could close the door, however, she asked, "Is Miyuki in your room right now?"

"Yeah, that's right," Kyouya said. "I'm lucky that she was able to sleep on the spare bed roll in my room."

"Okay, big brother," Nanoha nodded in response. "I'll go see if she's able to talk." With that, she walked off to her brother's room to figure out what was going on with her sister.

When she reached her brother's room, Nanoha knocked on the door a couple times, before she said, "Big sister, I'm coming in." As she opened the door, she looked in and saw Miyuki with her eyes slightly open, while still breathing somewhat. "What _happened_ to you last night, big sister?"

Miyuki lifted her head up to look at Nanoha and said, "I think I have the flu, Nanoha. I don't recall doing anything else that would make me this way inside."

 _This is my big sister, Takamachi Miyuki, who has the strange habit of looking for trouble to bring it to the attention of the police. I think she bit off more than she could chew, this time, all things considered. There is also the fact that she's a horrible liar. That said, I highly doubt she's lying, at least now._

"Okay, big sister," Nanoha said. "I'll just make sure that father and mother get you to a doctor as soon as possible to check for all possibilities."

"Thanks, Nanoha," Miyuki said, before she closed her eyes fully and laid her head down gently, falling asleep in a matter of seconds.

Nanoha closed the door behind her gently as she walked down the stairs.

* * *

 _Uminari Central High School_

 _Noon that day…_

* * *

"So, wait, your big sister's not doing so well?" a purple-haired girl, her hair in a high ponytail, in the Uminari Central uniform asked Nanoha during lunch time, even as she sat to her right on a bench at the school roof.

"Yeah," Nanoha answered. "She said she has the flu, but I think there's more to it than a simple bug going around, Suzuka-chan."

"Where was she last night, again?" a short-haired straw-blonde foreigner in the same uniform, who had lived in Japan because of her father's business, asked this time, sitting on Nanoha's left.

"Um, I think it was the Hitenryu restaurant," Nanoha replied. "I don't know why that's important, Alisa-chan, but—"

Tsukimura Suzuka gasped. "You mean your sister went to the Hitenryu and got out of it with _food poisoning_?!" she practically demanded to know.

Alisa Bannings nodded gravely. "I suppose that makes more sense than it doesn't," she said. "I just feel that there might be something we're forgetting…"

Nanoha sighed as she considered that. "Well, whatever happens, at least it's not someone putting a bun in the oven and ignoring said bun… right?"

Suzuka and Alisa shrugged at that.

"That aside," Nanoha said, "I was hoping to figure out more about what our futures held in store. You don't think I'd be a good math teacher, right?"

"Huh?" Suzuka asked out loud. "What brought that up?"

"Well," Nanoha said, "I know so much about math, but I don't have much in the way of teaching ability to younger students, so I understand. Remember the _last_ time I tried to teach someone math?"

Both Suzuka and Alisa cringed at that. Why, yes, they _did_ remember the last time.

"Wasn't that Tenkuuji Takeru the Moron who you were trying to teach?" Alisa asked in confirmation. "Isn't he just a year below us in Middle School?"

"Yes, that sounds right," Suzuka answered. "He has a very lofty ambition of living like the heroes of the past, but it doesn't seem likely that he'll pull it off."

"What's it gonna take to get him to wise up?!" Alisa snapped. "Him dying on his friends in the Daitenkuu Temple?!"

Nanoha shrugged, before she pulled out her cell phone and pressed a speed dial number.

"Um, what are you doing, Nanoha-chan?" Suzuka asked.

Instead of answering, Nanoha put the phone to her ear. After a few seconds, she said, "Ah, Takeru? How goes your ambitions as a Ghost Hunter? …for real? You're finally putting my instruction to good use? …okay, yeah, your father wasn't stupid in the academic field, either. …alright, good, you can have mister Onari pay the other half of the payment we agreed upon earlier to my bank account. …mhm, I'll see you for more tutoring sessions later, Takeru. Take care, now!" With that, she hung up the phone.

"Was that…?" Suzuka started to ask.

"…Takeru the Moron?!" Alisa finished in exclamation.

"Ehehehehehehe… yeah, I just figured I'd check back up on him," Nanoha admitted. "Nothing I was doing at first was getting through to him that he needed to study his math, other than asking if his otou-san was academically inclined. As it turns out, he was."

Alisa facepalmed. "Nanoha…" she groused.

"Well, all's well that ends well," Nanoha said, getting off the bench and walking over to the stairs on the roof. "C'mon, I think it's time to get back to class."

Checking their cell phones, Suzuka and Alisa blanched, before they rushed after their friend. "H-Hey, Nanoha!"

"Wait for us, Nanoha-chan!"

 _Those two I was speaking with are my friends, Suzuka-chan and Alisa-chan. We've been in the same class since first grade. We've also attended the same cram school, too… until I proved I didn't need it last school year. My academic-retention skills were_ stupendously _good!_

* * *

 _Uminari Central Park_

 _Later that day…_

* * *

After a longer than usual amount of club activities to take care of at school, Nanoha was _finally_ walking home. While she was known throughout the city as a kendoka in training under her father, ever since she was in elementary school, she had felt a calling to take up archery, which led to her winning a bunch of regional tournaments. Unfortunately, while she was clearly capable of reaching National-level fame, it seemed things were conspiring _against_ her being in the national tournaments all this time. Still, at least everyone in the entire region around Uminari knew of her skill as _Shiroi Sogeki-hei no Akuma Nanoha-chan_ … White Sniper Devil Nanoha-chan.

As part of her training in how to be a kendoka, as well as a master archer, Nanoha had to go through plenty of meditation exercises to get herself in the right state of mind, which, in the archery club, were the same in every club. As it stood for her swordsmanship training, however, she was taught something that was radically different from the 'tamer' version taught in schools…

 _What I was taught by otou-san was simply akin to learning how to balance on one's head while biking and playing Rugby, or even American Football, while the schools teach akin to learning how to ride a bike. I just wish that those who wish to take their art seriously learned what I learned._

Still, even with those thoughts in mind, Nanoha walked to the park near her school, where she knew Suzuka and Alisa were waiting for her. When she made it to the meeting place, she barely heard Alisa snap at a full grown barking passer-by dog in perfect English, "Be _quiet_!"

… _again?! How many times does that make it, now? I know it happened back in third grade for the first time… still… isn't that the same puppy that she started snapping at?_

Noticing Nanoha's presence, Suzuka turned to face her and bowed, saying, "Thank you for coming here, Nanoha."

Nanoha waved her hand. "It's alright, Suzuka," she replied. "I know that you both need an escort from a friend to cram school, so I decided to fill that role of being the escort."

Alisa, now noticing Nanoha, turned to face her and asked, "Are you sure this won't interfere with your training in how to use a sword later?"

"I'm alright for now, so I hope," Nanoha answered with a nod. With that, she led her friends through the park, until—

"Ah, this way, this way!" Alisa called out from a few meters behind Nanoha and Suzuka. "This is a shortcut to get to cram school faster."

—that happened.

Heading back to Alisa, Suzuka and Nanoha looked at the path she was talking about. "Really…?" Suzuka asked, unsure if they should go down the path.

Alisa nodded, before saying, "Though the path's a little worn-down."

As the three of them walked down the path, Nanoha, who was in the rear of the group, looked around her, trying to get a good sense of where she saw this place before. It was after a while that she stopped in place, looking forward as the dream from the night before flashed through her mind's eye. ' _This is the place I saw in my dream yesterday…'_ she realized, wide-eyed and mouth slightly agape.

"What's wrong?"

"Nanoha?"

Nanoha, shaken out of her realization state, shook her head and said, "Ah, it's nothing. Sorry about that."

"Are you all right?" Suzuka asked.

"Yeah," Nanoha answered.

"Then let's go," Alisa said, pointing forward.

As Suzuka and Alisa walked forward, Nanoha looked to the left and said, "It couldn't be."

"Nanoha-chan?"

"Ah, yeah!"

As Nanoha caught up with her friends and started walking forward, she could feel that something was wrong with the situation, mainly that she was missing some—

" _Help me!"_

—Nanoha paused in mid-step, hearing the Fukuyama Jun-style voice in her head again, as well as a shrill ringing styled noise. She was not the only one.

Alisa, looking around the entire area of the park they were in, asked out loud, "What the _Hell_ is _going on_?!"

Suzuka also looked around, even if she wasn't one to use such language. "I wonder who said that?" she asked.

Nanoha looked around, as well, before she recalled a lesson that Aqua had managed to impart upon her as she was getting ready to leave.

" _Whenever you need to find something that is there, but isn't quite there, focus with your Heart, Nanoha-san," Aqua said, putting her clothes from the day before away._

" _Focus with… my Heart?" Nanoha asked._

" _Yes," Aqua answered. "Your Heart will know where to find what you're looking for, as long as you know intellectually and emotionally what you need to find."_

" _How do I do that?" Nanoha asked._

" _To begin, it'd be best to close your eyes and picture such a thing," Aqua answered. "That's all I can say, because I don't know what your intellectual and emotional agreement will be like."_

Nanoha closed her eyes, before she pictured what she needed to do to find the owner of the voice. What she found in her mind's eye was something akin to a minimap from video games with such a heads up display. When she focused on figuring out where to find the voice's owner—

" _Help me!"_

—she found the owner of the voice! Fifteen meters behind them, then another three to the east!

Rushing towards the voice's owner, Nanoha barely heard her friends calling out her name, as they eventually chased after her. When they finally caught up with her, however, she had stopped in front of an injured rodent with a red jewel attached to a string around its neck, kneeling in front of it to make sure the animal was alright.

"What do you think happened to the little guy, Nanoha?" Alisa asked, having caught her breath first.

"I think he was attacked by a wild animal or something," Nanoha answered. "What sort of animal was able to pull this off, though?"

Suzuka knelt down to Nanoha's level and looked at the rodent. "Hmm…" she let out. "It looks like it has a bloodied leg, some minor scratches, and a lot of expended energy. I think we need to take the little guy to a vet immediately!"

As one, the girls nodded, before they looked up a nearby vet that was still open at that time… well, Nanoha couldn't, as she held onto the rodent carefully.

* * *

 _Takemoto Veterinary_

 _Fifteen minutes later…_

* * *

"Its wound isn't all that deep," the vet, upon finishing her inspection of the rodent, said, "but it certainly looks pretty weak. It's probably been on its own for a while."

"Doctor, thank you very much," Nanoha said.

"Thank you very much!" Alisa and Suzuka bowed in turn.

"Not at all," the vet answered. "You're quite welcome."

As all three girls looked at the rodent, Alisa asked, "Doctor, this is a ferret, right?" As one, all three girls looked to the vet as she continued, "I wonder if it's someone's pet…"

"It might be a ferret…" the vet answered, "but if it is, it's certainly unique. And also, about this item on its collar… it looks like some sort of jewel…" As she moved her hand near the jewel, the ferret's eyes opened, before it moved its head to face the vet.

"It woke up!" Suzuka exclaimed.

The ferret then looked between the vet and the three girls who brought it in, Finally, it settled to look between the girls, first gazing at Nanoha, then at Alisa, then at Suzuka, and finally back at Nanoha.

"It's looking at you," Suzuka told Nanoha.

Nanoha didn't respond so easily, especially since she felt a sense of… understanding… from the ferret.

"Nanoha, you're being stared at," Alisa whispered to Nanoha, finally getting her attention.

"A-Ah, yeah…" Nanoha said. "Umm… uh…" Finally gathering the courage to stick a finger out to the ferret, she saw the little guy sniff her finger, before it licked her finger. She squealed happily for a couple seconds, before she and her friends noticed the ferret collapse again.

"It would be best to let it get some rest," the vet said, "so why don't I watch over it for you three until tomorrow?"

At that, the friends looked at each other, before they nodded in agreement. Turning to the vet, they exclaimed, "Yes! Please do!"

"If you'd like, why don't you come and see how it's doing tomorrow?" the vet asked.

"Okay!" the three friends answered as one.

At that moment, Nanoha looked at the clock and asked her friends, "Alisa-chan, Suzuka-chan, isn't it time for you to be at cram school?"

As one, Suzuka and Alisa paled considerably, before they hastily said goodbye to the vet. Before they left, however, Alisa asked, "So, wait, who gets to take care of the little guy?"

"I'll do it," Nanoha answered after a bit, raising her hand. "I'll make sure to let you know what the overall consensus is with my family."

* * *

 _Takamachi Residence_

 _Dinner time…_

* * *

While Nanoha, now clad in an orange shirt and a red skirt, was at the dinner table with the whole family, she said, "So… I was wondering if maybe we could take in Mr. Ferret…"

"Hmm… a ferret, huh?" Shiro asked in confirmation. When he got it, he asked, "While we're on the subject, just what is a 'ferret'?"

Nanoha, Kyouya, and Miyuki all faceplanted at their spots at the table.

"What?" Shiro asked. "What did I say?"

"Dad," Kyouya began, lifting his head up to speak. "A ferret's like a long rodent."

Miyuki lifted her head up and said, "They were really popular as pets a while back."

Momoko, who was gathering food for the table, chose that time to ask, "Ferrets are pretty small, right?"

"You know what a ferret is?" Shiro asked his wife.

"Um…" Nanoha began again, positioning herself to be back upright. "It's about this big," she finished, approximating the size of the ferret.

Momoko, placing a plate of food down, said as she made her way to her seat, "If we'd only be taking it in for a little while, and you put it in a cage and properly look after it, it shouldn't be much of a problem. Kyouya, Miyuki, what do you say?"

"I don't see anything wrong with that," Kyouya said, facing Nanoha.

"Same goes for me," Miyuki added.

Nanoha looked at her father, a hopeful, expectant look on her face.

Shiro nodded, saying, "Well, there you go."

Momoko asked, "Isn't that great?"

Nanoha's look morphed into that of cheer as she said, "Yeah! Thanks so much!"

"Now then," Momoko said, "let's all eat up before the food gets cold."

"Okay!" the kids of the family called out.

"Momoko, could you please pass the salad?" Shiro asked.

"Sure!" Momoko answered. "Here you are."

"Oh, me too," Kyouya said.

"Right, right."

* * *

 _Bannings Residence_

 _1940 that night…_

* * *

Alisa, now clad in a sky blue tee and a hot pink skirt, was in the middle of doing some homework for her math class, having already finished dinner earlier, when she paused in filling the answers. Looking around, she eventually let out a sigh. "I don't know whether or not I'm imagining things," she said out loud. "I could've sworn that I heard a strange noise from somewhere in the attic…" Just as she was about to put her pencil back to the paper—

" _Release me…"_

—Alisa stopped in mid-motion. ' _Okay,_ that _time, I heard it!'_ she thought. Standing up in a hurry, she dropped her pencil onto the table and rushed towards the attic, hurrying faster than she had in all her life before. Going to the place where the attic was connected to the rest of the house, Alisa flipped a switch, which opened the attic and lowered a ladder to the ground. When she saw the ladder reach the ground, she hurried up to the attic, looking around for the source of the voice from earlier.

"Okay, if I were going to be a telepathic something, or even a telepathic some _one_ , in the attic, where would I be…?" Alisa asked aloud.

"Alisa, what are you doing up here?"

Alisa turned around and looked at the owner of the voice, who turned out to be her father, as he stepped up the ladder. "Dad?" she asked. "W-What brings _you_ here?"

"Well," Alisa's father, a lanky sort of guy in a black business suit, with short straw-blonde hair, a clean-shaven face and blue eyes, said as he looked at her, "I was curious as to what you were up to, since you hardly _ever_ run in the house." Looking around the attic, he said, "It's been so long since we last cleaned this place up. Perhaps we should do some spring cleaning one of these days."

Alisa could feel a bead of sweat falling down the back of her head. "U-Uh… yeah," she said. "Listen, dad, I need to get something out from here."

"Hmm?" Alisa's father, Johnny Yong Bannings, looked at his daughter again. "What something are you referring to?"

Alisa, fearing the truth would be stranger than what her father would expect, lied by saying, "I need some help with my History homework. I didn't want to bug you about giving me answers, because I know that's not how it's done, but…"

Johnny cupped his chin, before he snapped his fingers. "Of course!" he exclaimed. "I know _exactly_ what you need!"

"You do?" Alisa asked, curiosity filling her tone.

"Mhm," Johnny nodded as he walked fully into the attic. "It should be over to the east side." With that, he walked to the east side of the attic, Alisa following him—

" _I'm a bit further north…"_

—until she heard the voice from earlier. Looking around with her eyes, she locked onto a box that looked to be warded by a Catholic Priest, if only because of the lack of Buddhist seals wrapped onto it. When she got to the box, she lifted the boxes on top of it off, making sure to gingerly open the object in question and look inside. What she saw was a necklace with a pendent that looked like some sort of wavy gunblade attached to it. The blade itself was orange, while the hilt was half red and half black, and the cord was golden in color. Alisa, upon fully taking in the pendent, picked it up and put it in her skirt pocket, before she closed the lid three-quarters of the way.

At that moment, however, Johnny looked over to Alisa and asked, "Alisa, what are you _doing_ , opening that box?"

Alisa, who had paused in her actions when she heard her father speak to her, turned to face him and said, "I was closing it—"

"Keep it closed, Alisa," Johnny warned her, cutting her off abruptly. "I don't want any one of my children to be in trouble with the family elders for something you're completely unaware of…"

Going back to closing the box, Alisa eventually faced her father and asked, "If you don't mind my asking, what was wrong with me opening the box? I mean, for all I know, the box was—"

"The item _inside_ the box is what needs to be sealed away, Alisa," Johnny interrupted her, raising his voice in the process and spooking his daughter. After seeing how scared she was, he softened his tone and said, "I'm sorry, Alisa… I can't tell you enough how sorry I am for scaring you."

"…why?" Alisa asked. "Why seal whatever is in the box?"

Johnny looked at the box as he answered, "Many centuries ago, the Bannings family was involved in some nasty stuff. This sort of stuff is what had inspired the creation of H.P. Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos, except it's very much real, Alisa." As Alisa was about to speak up, he held up a hand to forestall conversation and continued, "I'm getting to the part where it has to do with the content of the box, so please, be patient." Seeing her close her mouth, he lowered his hand and said, "Now, somewhere along the way, before we even _began_ the nasty stuff in question, we managed to acquire a blade that was called Flame Eyes. It was said to be a sentient blade that could change form when either activated or not, and even change the outfit of the user when it did so, though the user was in control of the outfit. However, what the blade had control over was practically everything else, even the actions a person had to take. Flame Eyes is a creation of _utter evil_ , Alisa! If you so much as take it out, who _knows_ what sort of chaos will come, especially of the evil variety!"

Alisa was shocked at the information she was given, and rightly so, since she had taken out an item of—

" _Let me explain this in a way that you can understand, Master."_

—Alisa's facial expression was that of confusion this time, since she didn't expect this to happen. ' _Does it have to be_ now _, Flame Eyes?'_ she questioned the item mentally, an eyebrow raised.

" _Not this instant, no,"_ Flame Eyes answered. " _However, it would be imperative that you learn soon, Master."_

Alisa imperceptibly nodded, before she asked out loud, "Dad, could we please go downstairs now? I hope you have what's needed for my History homework."

"Sure do, Alisa," Johnny nodded, before producing a couple History texts. "I hope you need help with World War 2-era Japanese History, because it's best to get it accurate by the standards of everyone else, not the local standards."

Alisa blinked a few times, before she closed her eyes, nodding happily. "Thank you very much, daddy!"

* * *

 _Tsukimura Residence_

 _2000 that night…_

* * *

Suzuka, now clad in a white button up blouse over a white shirt and black skirt, was currently reading a Light Novel series that had updated that day at her desk, about a boy who was madly in love with the concept of Nekomimi, or cat girls, and was ecstatic that a living colony of the species was found in his neighborhood, such that he personally convinced the colony to become his harem. He had to deal with quite a bit of hardships, like a few of the girls dying from not getting inoculated, but, overall, he had managed to integrate the colony into the world itself. It was a fun story for her to read, all things considered, especially since she liked cats. Although—

There was a knock at the door. "Suzuka? Are you in there?" a woman's voice called out.

—Suzuka quickly hid the book in her desk drawer, before she called out, "Yes, Shinobu! I'm in here!"

Shinobu opened the door, showing that she was wearing a purple nightgown that matched her low back-length hair and eyes, even wearing purple slippers. "Good, because I need to talk with you about something," she said, walking into the room. Standing next to Suzuka, she said, "It's about the family shrine out in the woods."

"Eh?" Suzuka let out. "What happened to the shrine out in the woods?"

"Apparently, a group of vandals thought it a good idea to sneak onto our property and steal the shrine's contents," Shinobu said, a dangerous glint in her eyes. "Fortunately, they weren't able to steal anything. _Unfortunately_ , however, they were reported to have been flash frozen like they were in Absolute Zero temperature."

Suzuka gasped in shock. "Oh, no!" she cried out. "How horrible!"

"Fortunately, they didn't die," Shinobu said. "What happened to them when they were thawed out was a one-way trip to an insane asylum, as they rambled on about a ghostly figure freezing them to submission, perhaps death if they were unlucky."

Suzuka looked at her sister and asked, "Where is Byaku Yuki's shrine now?" Byaku Yuki, being their ancient ancestor on their mother's side, was a rather important person that had helped Uminari be the place it is today.

Shinobu turned to walk out the door, though she said, "Follow me, Suzuka."

* * *

 _Tsukimura property_

 _Ten Minutes Later…_

* * *

Fortunately for the family, the shrine was still there, in its regular position. Suzuka was extremely grateful that it wasn't further harassed. Still, she couldn't help but wonder… what _was_ in the shrine itself, anyway?

Shinobu looked at her sister and, as if knowing what Suzuka was thinking, said, "Legend has it that only someone who matches Lady Yuki's personality can wear the sacred ribbon that currently remains inside this shrine." Nudging Suzuka forward, she said, "Go on, give it a try."

Suzuka looked at her sister, before she sighed in defeat. "Alright, Shinobu," she answered, placing her attention back on the shrine itself. When she walked over to the shrine, she opened the only drawer on it, seeing a purple ribbon that looked brand-spanking new had an ice-blue attached jewel on it. Picking it up, she said, "Well, it sure _looks_ the part. I wonder how it's supposed to be worn?"

Before Shinobu could even so much as shrug, however…

" _Who seeks to_ awaken _me from my_ slumber _?"_ a female disembodied voice called out from around the area.

"EEEEEEK!" Suzuka screamed, clutching the ribbon while jumping up into her sister's arms, scared out of her wits ends. "It's a _ghost_!"

" _I may be a ghost,"_ the voice continued, " _but I am_ not _a being who does not seek justice for what is in my line. Now, you ruffians, who_ are _you?!"_

Shinobu carefully put her sister down, before she answered, "Forgive us, Lady Yuki, for awakening you from your slumber. My name is Tsukimura Shinobu, and the one holding onto your ribbon is my little sister, Suzuka. We have heard a report about your activity here, and were concerned about the safety of your shrine, since you had purportedly flash-frozen vandals who had _attempted_ to desecrate the shrine."

" _I am aware of the Tsukimura clan and their supernatural existence,"_ the voice, now confirmed to be that of Byaku Yuki's ghost, said, causing both Shinobu and Suzuka to look at each other with raised eyebrows. " _I must ask, though, what year it is compared to Year 1 of the Taika (_ _大化_ _) Era, when I was killed in battle."_

Suzuka, after gasping in shock, spoke up this time as she looked around. "You mean you died in the Western year of 645 AD, almost 1400 years ago?!"

" _So it would appear,"_ Yuki admitted, sounding sad. " _I was not able to see my children grow up in the flesh since the day I died, that cold and snowy day, as I was slain by a member of the vampiric clan you are sired into."_

Shinobu raised both eyebrows at that. "Okay, I'm calling bull on this," she said. "If we were sired into a vampiric clan, how come we don't have even the slightest urge to suck people's blood?"

" _Blood dilutes over time, especially when marrying outside of the vampiric circles,"_ Yuki answered. " _I would not even qualify you as Dhampir, the western word for half-vampires, at this rate… not even close. Besides, your ancestors did not suck blood primarily, but magical power."_

"Magical… power?" Suzuka asked in awe.

" _Yes,"_ Yuki replied. " _You have been born into a magical lineage from your father's side of the family, at least."_

"What about our mother, who is one of your descendants?" Shinobu asked, keeping her eyebrows raised. "She never mentioned anything about this story you're telling so far, especially not you dying at the hands of one of our father's ancient clansmen."

" _Her name from before marriage?"_

"Byaku Nagisa," Shinobu answered.

" _Prove your claim to my legacy, then,"_ Yuki ordered. " _Place your hand on the gem attached to the ribbon from my shrine, if you acquired it there."_

Shinobu did as instructed, before a slight shock hit her hand. "Ouch!" she exclaimed, quickly withdrawing her hand.

" _You are indeed who you say you are, Tsukimura Shinobu,"_ Yuki acquiesced. " _However, you are not qualified to use my heirloom to my descendants at this time."_

"Um… what about me?" Suzuka asked the ghost, who she had begun to suspect was in the gem itself, even as she proceeded to do the same thing as her sister. When the shock hit her, however, she giggled. "I-It tickles!" she exclaimed.

" _Hmm… you possess the right qualities to use my heirloom, Tsukimura Suzuka, sister of Tsukimura Shinobu,"_ Yuki said. " _In order to use it at your state, call out 'Snow White, Set Up!' However, it would be for the best if you did not use it unless something drastic happened."_

"Eh?" Suzuka let out in surprise.

" _What_ something drastic, Lady Yuki?" Shinobu asked skeptically.

" _The emergence of shadowy monsters that should not be among the living, regardless of where the living are, Tsukimura Shinobu,"_ Yuki answered. " _I locked the full power of Snow White away, only allowing a small portion to appear unless the shadowy monsters show up again, which would mean you would need to help save this world."_

"Is that right…?" Shinobu questioned. "Well, should these monsters show up here, we will be sure to let you know."

" _Thank you, you two,"_ Yuki said, a tone of sincerity in her voice. " _To wear my heirloom, wrap the ribbon around your shirt collar, and it will appear when you need it the most."_

Suzuka wrapped the ribbon around her shirt collar, putting the gem on display. "Like this?" she asked.

There was no reply.

"Suzuka, I think it looks good on you," Shinobu stated, giving her little sister a thumbs up.

"Th-thanks, sis," Suzuka let out, blushing at the compliment.

* * *

 _Bannings residence_

 _Approximately the same time…_

* * *

"I see…" Alisa said out loud, holding onto Flame Eyes in its Standby form while sitting at her desk. "So the real reason why you were sealed away is because you had been judging great-grandpa Yuri Bannings for his potential when his little brother, Lowe Bannings, barged in and tried to use you without permission, thus him incinerating himself because of something within your programming?"

" _Yes, Master,"_ Flame Eyes answered telepathically. " _My programming comes from a protective side of your family, who originated from a different world than you're familiar with, I'm sure."_

"I'd find that very hard to believe," Alisa said, "if I weren't looking at the proof in my hand. You claim to be a computer that can help me use magic, right? Well, how am I supposed to use it in the first place?"

" _In traditional cases, much like your own, a person has to be born with a Linker Core,"_ Flame Eyes admitted. " _However, I can tell from your Linker Core, Master, that you had a_ very _dangerous ritual done on you when you were in your mother's womb, which nearly destroyed it beyond repair in an attempt to seal away your magic."_

"…do I even _want_ to know how bad?" Alisa questioned, looking green in the face.

" _Not_ that _bad these days, I'll admit,"_ Flame Eyes said. " _You had_ originally _been something of a crippled mage, but you stayed athletic enough to regrow your Linker Core to a much more noticeable level, thus the fact that I noticed the damage done initially."_

Alisa nodded, before she asked, "Am I able to use your functions as I am right now?"

" _I would not recommend using me right now, Master,"_ Flame Eyes said. " _If I were to be used right now, I would try fixing your Linker Core even faster than normal, and the chance of you_ not _burning your home down by accident would be astronomically lower than you destroying it."_

Alisa shuddered at the thought of burning the house down. "Yeah, how about I _don't_ do that?" she asked.

Suddenly, there was a knock at the door. "Aneja? Are you busy?" a little girl's voice called out through the door.

" _It seems your family needs you for something, Master,"_ Flame Eyes said. " _Go on, but keep me in your pocket for the time being, alright?"_

Alisa nodded, before she placed Flame Eyes in her pocket, calling out as she did so, "No, I'm not busy!" Walking over to the door, she opened it to see one of her little sisters, a young girl of about 13, who looked to be 4'11", with silver hair that reached the small of her back and emerald green eyes, wearing a light blue blouse over a teal shirt, which was stretched across her torso and above the area of her navel due to her large side of a C-cup breasts, and a light blue miniskirt. "What do you need, Emilia?"

"Well, aneja," Emilia Bannings began, poking her index fingers together, "I was wondering if you were interested in playing chess with me. I mean, we hardly ever play together anymore, and I thought it would make for some good sisterly bonding time."

Alisa placed a hand to her chin, before she decided, "Sure, why not? I mean, nothing bad can happen to us in reality when we play chess." Lowering her hand from her chin, she finished, "Alright. Where are we playing at?"

* * *

 _Emilia's room_

 _Twenty minutes later…_

* * *

Alisa looked in surprise at the chess board. _'I won five games straight… against my little sister?!'_ she thought in shock. _'How did I pull_ that _off?!'_

Emilia, who had picked the white pieces, was down to no pieces left, her King piece having just been checkmated. "Aneja, I'm impressed!" she declared. "Not only could you keep up with my tournament-level chess style, you were able to take out all my pieces one by one without sacrificing your own by the last game!" Closing her eyes, she nodded and said, "You are hereby ready to take the title of family Queen of Chess off my hands, mmhmm!"

At that point, clapping could be heard from the doorway, causing the sisters to look at the other 12 members of the immediate family. "Well, Alisa," Johnny spoke up when the clapping died down. "I think I speak for everyone when I say you are the most awesome girl in the house."

Blushing heavily in embarrassment, Alisa exclaimed, "That's _not_ true! I'm nowhere _near_ as awesome as _Emilia_ , or even _Claire_ , for that matter!"

Before Emilia could say anything, Claire Bannings, Alisa's only big sister, laughed like a loon. Claire, unlike the rest of the adults in the family, worked in the fashion industry as a swimsuit model since she was 19 two years ago, especially since she had inherited a double helping of impressive physical attributes from _both_ sides of the family. She looked to be a whole foot taller than Emilia at least, had blonde hair that easily reached to her knees that went into a braid, sapphire blue eyes, and was wearing a black business suit for women, complete with the skirt.

Johnny looked at his wristwatch and mentally counted how long Claire would laugh. When the laughter finally stopped, he said, "Three minutes, 58 seconds. That's a new record, Claire."

Claire calmed herself down enough to say to Alisa, "Little sister, you _seriously_ put me in the same line of comparison as Emilia the _Super Genius_? The only reason why she's not in _Tokyo University_ is because she wants to make friends her age!" Shaking her head in amusement, she continued, "Don't sell yourself short, Alisa. I know you can pull off better feats of ability than what you give yourself credit for, alright?"

Alisa would've said something more had Emilia not placed a hand on her left shoulder. "She's right, you know," she said when Alisa looked her in the eyes. "I know you have a hidden talent in you that only _you_ can pull off, aneja, and it seems like you started using it."

Alisa was about to protest, but she couldn't find the words to say. Finally, she hung her head in defeat. "Okay, fine," she said. "I have some hidden talent that won't be used by anyone else, all things considered. I get that, alright?"

"That's not the sort of thing you should be disappointed with, Alisa," Claire pointed out. "You should be _proud_ of your achievements to date! It's really hard to defeat Emilia at chess, we all know that, yet you managed to win a game against her fair and square!"

"That was five games, Claire," Emilia corrected her eldest sister.

Everyone else in the room, except Alisa, gaped at Emilia.

* * *

 _Alisa's Room_

 _Five minutes later…_

* * *

"Well, that went better than it could have," Alisa said, sitting at her desk to do her homework again. "I would've thought that my family would bug me to prove that I'm as special as they claim I am, but it didn't happen."

" _You don't like being special, Master?"_ Flame Eyes asked telepathically. " _Also, to not draw suspicion from your family, think your replies to me from now on."_

Alisa blinked in confusion. ' _I can?'_ she thought.

" _Yes, you can,"_ Flame Eyes answered. " _You just pulled it off, too. Plus, you spoke with me telepathically earlier, if you recall."_

' _Okay,_ now _I get it,'_ Alisa thought. ' _Thank you, Flame Eyes.'_

" _My pleasure, Master. Now, I believe you have History homework next?"_

Alisa looked at the homework for her class and sighed in annoyance. If only she had dropped out of the education system after Middle School… but no. "I know that history is written by the victors," she said out loud, "but _this_ is _ridiculous_!"

* * *

 _Takamachi Residence_

 _Roughly the same time…_

* * *

Nanoha, currently in a pink nightgown, was doing her math homework when she suddenly felt very, very, _very_ tired. Blinking the sleep out of her eyes, she tried to get her math homework finished faster, but the sleepiness continued to get at her.

"Ugh…" she said, before she placed the homework off to the side. "I better finish this in the morning, then." Getting up and walking over to her bed, she sat down on her bed, before she laid her head down on the pillow and was out like a light.

#

 _In a mysterious time and place…_

#

Nanoha was falling headlong, as if she were in a dream, in a dark ocean realm. When she opened her eyes to see what was going on, she almost panicked, except that the water didn't enter her body at all. As she felt her body fall, she noticed her field of vision was correcting itself, as if she was going to land on her feet.

When she landed, she was indeed on her feet, even as the darkness surrounding her was blinding her completely. With that in mind, she took a careful step forward, and… found pigeons flying up and away from her feet?

' _The heck?'_ Nanoha thought, even as multiple pigeons flew up around the floor she was on. ' _How did_ pigeons _find any room to live underwater?'_ Looking all around her, Nanoha could tell that her current environment was not one of normal circumstance, but rather…

 **So much to do, so little time…**

Nanoha could tell the speaker was somewhere else, even though it sounded like the voice was so close, too. ' _What's going on?'_ she thought.

 **Take your time. Don't be afraid.**

Nanoha merely rolled her eyes at the strange contradiction the voice offered for its own words. ' _Right, as if I would be afraid of what goes on in this dream,'_ she snarked mentally.

 **The door is still shut. Now, step forward. Can you do it?**

' _Well, I have nothing better to do,'_ Nanoha thought. With that, she walked forward, looking at the platform she was on. It looked like a stain glass portrait of her family surrounding her, with a mysterious woman in the back of the portrait, although she wasn't sure who the woman was. It looked like she was an older version of Miyuki, sans the glasses, and was about ready to pull out a katana. When Nanoha got to the middle of the platform…

 **Power sleeps within you.**

Nanoha looked to her right and saw a platform on top of the one she was standing on, a shield appearing above the platform itself, hovering over the base. The shield itself looked like a knight's shield from Feudal Ages Europe, which was ironic, since she was studying world history as part of her homework. Shortly after, she heard a second platform rise up, this time to her left, before a staff formed out of thin air, much like the shield.

 **If you give it form…**

Looking ahead of her, Nanoha saw that a katana had appeared in front of her, hovering over a platform like the other items. ' _What are these items for?'_ she thought to herself.

 **It will give you strength. Choose well.**

Shrugging, Nanoha walked over to the platform that had the katana. Upon grabbing the blade, she felt an intricate understanding of the weapon.

 **The power of the warrior. Invincible courage. A sword of terrible destruction. Is this the power you seek?**

' _Hmm…'_ Nanoha thought. ' _On the one hand, I could fight better with this than either of the other items, if I need to. On the other hand, I don't know why I'm even considering the_ need _to fight… eh, whatever. I'll take this power—'_

At that point, the katana vanished from her hands.

 **Your path has been set. Now, which power will you give up?**

Nanoha looked between the staff and the shield, before she walked over to the shield. Taking it in hand, she waited for the voice to say what she needed to hear, and she was not disappointed.

 **The power of the guardian. Kindness to aid friends. A shield to repel all. You give up this power?**

' _Yes,'_ Nanoha thought in reply.

At that point, the shield vanished into thin air.

 **You've chosen the power of the warrior. You've given up the power of the guardian. Is this the form you choose?**

Nanoha nodded in confirmation… right before the platform started shattering around her feet. With that, she fell through the ground, shocked that something like this would happen.

* * *

 _One free-fall later…_

* * *

Nanoha landed on her feet, safe and sound. "Okay, _that_ was scary…" she admitted to herself. "How did I survive—"

Suddenly, the katana appeared in her left hand, shocking her slightly.

 **You have gained the power to fight.**

Swinging the katana for a short bit, Nanoha made sure to keep herself at a safe and steady position, on the off-chance she had to fight anything.

 **All right! You've got it. Use this power to protect yourself and others.**

"I intend to," Nanoha said, nodding in acknowledgment. It was at that point that she saw what looked like a giant malformed ant made out of pure darkness flitting across the ground around and in front of her. "…what?"

 **There will be times you have to fight.**

"I don't suppose I could talk my way out of this, can I?" Nanoha asked somewhat rhetorically. Soon enough, she saw it had buddies that decided to show up as well. "…crap!"

 **Keep your light burning strong.**

Nanoha didn't need any further prompting. She ran forward and sliced three times at a shadowy giant ant, allowing her to kill it, as well as one of its buddies… before the rest of them faded into the floor.

Blinking in surprise, Nanoha looked around and saw some strange green orbs on the ground that vanished after a few seconds. "What are those green orbs?" she asked out loud.

 **Health orbs, to help you recover from your injuries faster, on the off-chance you get hurt.**

"Any other orbs I should be made aware of?" Nanoha asked.

 **Blue orbs are for your magical ability. Gold ones are for cash.**

"…suddenly, I want to find out where Alisa gets her fashion trends from, so that she can take Suzuka and I shopping for sexy new clothes," Nanoha said, looking down to see herself in what looked like a boy's school uniform for Uminari Central High School. "This dream sucks!"

As she looked at her outfit, she saw that the floor looked like a stain glass portrait of Alisa's family, with Alisa, Emilia and Claire in the forefront, the rest of the family in the background. It seemed like there was some sort of pattern to be had with the floor, but what that pattern was, she didn't—

 **I hate to say this, but you can't get cash orbs yet, at least not in a Dive to the Heart.**

Nanoha looked up in shock. "You're _kidding_!" she exclaimed. Instead of getting an answer to _that_ , however…

 **Behind you!**

Suddenly, Nanoha's situational awareness alerted her to the fact that more of the shadowy giant ants appeared out of nowhere… one of them being _right behind her_!

Spinning around in place, Nanoha sliced at the monsters with her blade, causing them to vanish in black ichor. When she took note that the monsters had all perished by her blade, she noticed that the floor around her was beginning to coat itself in ichor, which turned itself into a form of dark quicksand. As soon as she noticed that, she started sinking into the ground, before she was gone for real from that floor.

* * *

 _One suffocating darkness trip later…_

* * *

Soon enough, Nanoha, who was squirming around on a new floor, found herself cleaned of the ichor that she thought had plagued her. When she got up off the ground, she found herself on a platform that had what appeared to be a family portrait of Suzuka's family, with the daughters in front of their parents. Looking around, Nanoha saw a see-through door and doorframe in the middle, which she decided to investigate. When she got to the door, she saw that she couldn't even _touch_ it, forget about _opening_ it.

Turning to face behind her, she saw a treasure chest appear, which made her wonder what was inside. Walking to the chest, she soon stopped in front of it, before she tapped the lid with her katana instinctively. With that, the chest opened up, revealing… nothing.

Almost immediately, Nanoha turned to face a big crate that appeared out of nowhere, which she decided to look into. When she ran over to it, she then pushed it a few feet, before she heard something inside it. With that, she sliced the crate up, revealing… a bouncy ball?

"What the…?" Nanoha asked, moving to pick up the ball, before it morphed into the form of a vial of strange liquid. "Okay, _that_ 's not normal," she said. She picked it up and saw it… fade into nothingness?

 **You acquired Potion times 1!**

"Wait, _seriously_?" Nanoha questioned. "I have a _potion_?!"

 **Potions don't heal more than a really small amount of health. Simple as that.**

Nanoha's face took on a 'wut' look at that. " _How_ small?" she questioned, just as a barrel showed up.

 **Five percent of your health, which usually goes to your vitals, nowhere else.**

Nanoha reshaped her face at that point. "Okay, _that_ should be good," she said, before walking over to the barrel. Picking it up, she threw it in the direction of the door, which had its frame fully appear by that point… and the barrel broke apart on a now solid door. "That… didn't happen the way I wanted it to."

Walking over to the door, she opened it up, revealing…

* * *

 _Uminari Central High School?_

* * *

…her high school's roof?

 **Hold on. The door won't open just yet. First, tell me more about yourself.**

Looking around, Nanoha saw that there were only three people on the roof that she didn't recognize. The one closest to the door to the roof was the only guy of the bunch, so she walked over to him first. Funnily enough, he looked like he was from the previous night's dream… how odd was that?

When Nanoha was within talking distance of the boy, however, he turned to face her and asked, "What are you afraid of?"

"Um…" Nanoha let out, thinking of the answer. Finally, she thought of one. "Getting old."

"Getting old? Is that really so scary?" the boy asked… mere moments before he faded from the rooftop.

Shivering, Nanoha walked over to one of the two girls that she didn't recognize, one who looked to be a blonde second year student. When she made it within speaking distance of _her_ , however, the second year student asked her, "What do you want outta life?"

"To see rare sights," Nanoha answered, this time automatically.

"To see rare sights, huh?" the second year student asked, before she, too, faded from the rooftop.

Walking over to the other girl, who looked to be the second year student's little sister, she heard the girl ask her, "What's most important to you?"

"Friendship," Nanoha answered, also automatically.

"Is friendship such a big deal?" the first year blonde asked… right before she, too, faded from the rooftop.

 **You're afraid of getting old. You want to see rare sights. You want friendship. Your adventure begins at dawn. As long as the sun is shining, your journey should be a pleasant one.**

"Sounds about right to me," Nanoha said, hoping that the consequences were good ones.

 **The day you will open the door is both far off and very near.**

As if beckoning a new change, a bright flash of light appeared, and the scene changed completely.

* * *

 _Back to the platforms…_

* * *

Eventually, Nanoha walked along a new platform, one that looked to be a portrait of the sandy blonde boy from earlier in the middle, and the blonde girls from earlier around him. Eventually, she walked up to a shining light from above the platform, prompting more of the giant shadowy ants to show up and encircle her. Without a care in the world, they charged her, about ready to end her.

Fortunately, Nanoha was able to outpace her foes, as she sliced up all the monsters into ichor in one circular slash. When that was completed, she noticed a glowing circle that was somehow calling her for one reason or another. Shrugging, she walked over to it and stepped in the circle… and changing her outfit to a white and black version of her school uniform that showed off more skin than her normal one did.

"Huh?!" Nanoha exclaimed, before she noticed a circle of light going over to the opposite side of the platform, forming a bunch of stained glass steps that led to… another platform? "Ugh… looks like I have no choice," she said, before rushing towards the steps and over to the platform they led to.

When Nanoha got onto the other platform, she saw a bright light shining down onto the floor, which looked like a portrait of a blonde woman, a redheaded girl, a pink-haired woman, and a man with wolf-like features, all surrounding a girl her age… who looked to have half her hair a chestnut brown, while the other half was silver, much like she had heterochromia to show one eye as green and the other as red. The girl her age had the light shining around her, which Nanoha looked up at, to see how dangerous the light actually was.

 **The closer you get to light, the greater your shadow becomes.**

Upon hearing those words, Nanoha turned behind her, to look at a giant shadow of herself on the ground… that rose out of the ground and morphed into a giant, yellow-eyed, monstrous version of herself with a hole in its chest the shape of an oversized elaborate heart! Backing up, Nanoha almost missed hearing the next words that she was to hear.

 **But don't be afraid. And don't forget…**

Nanoha, at that point, turned to run away from the monster, which she figured to be a dark side of herself, until she found herself at the edge of the platform. Seeing that flight was no longer an option, she chose to fight. With the shadowy version of herself as her main opponent, she attempted to slice at the monster's wrists, even if that didn't do much in the way of damage when she successfully did so. Before she could ponder what to do next, however, the giant shadow monster gathered dark energy into its right hand, which was now in a fist, and slammed it into the floor!

A mass of dark energy appeared, summoning three giant shadowy ants, which Nanoha attempted to swing at. Fortunately, she hit and destroyed all three of them in a couple strikes each, but that was before she saw the monster lean back to summon… orbs of dark energy that launched at her! Moving to dodge the summoned orbs, she realized that they were _homing_ orbs, which meant that she needed to deflect them _somewhere_ , but where?! It wasn't as if the head was… a… weak… spot?

If the situation weren't so dire, Nanoha would have face palmed. Instead, she deflected the next wave of dark orbs back at the head, causing her to get faster with her swings and stronger with the strikes. Eventually, the process repeated, which meant that she had to deal with more of the shadowy ants again.

Finally, after taking out the ants _and_ defeating the giant shadowy monster, she saw the latter gather the rest of its strength to strike against her!.Before she could block the blows to come, however, her katana vanished from her grasp. As it turned out, however, the blows were aimed for the ground around her… and forming more dark energy around her.

— **But don't be afraid.**

Nanoha started to feel encroached by the dark energy, even though she didn't really know how it was possible. It was an icky feeling, to be sure.

 **You hold the mightiest weapon of all.**

Nanoha tried to get away from the dark energy, trying to crawl away, before she realized that it would be a futile effort.

 **So don't forget:**

Turning to face upward, Nanoha was entirely scared of what would happen next, even if she didn't know what was to come.

 **You are the one who will open the door.**

* * *

 _Tsukimura Residence_

 _2045 that night…_

* * *

Suzuka, this time in a solid purple nightgown, was reading from where she left off, especially since she was at the point where there was going to be a huge fight between the protagonist, Kazemine Hiroto, and a bully that had become his rival, Kishinami Okisuke, who was a dog lover that managed to find a colony of Inumimi, or dog girls, to build a harem of his own with! The story was starting to pick up, especially since superpowers were starting to make an appearance, and the battle that was to happen was about at the point where—

There was another knock at the door. "Hey, big sis, you reading something?" a young boy's voice came through the door.

—Suzuka quickly hid the book in the drawer, again, before pulling out a different book from another series entirely. "Y-Yeah, Kazuya," she called out. "I'm reading 'The Misadventures of the Inferno Grimoire Holder'."

"You _are_?" Tsukimura Kazuya called out. Opening the door, he asked, "Can you read it to me, _please_ , sis?"

Suzuka looked at her little brother, a nine year old redhead that took after their father, seeing his bright orange eyes full of enthusiasm. He was currently in his blue and white plaid pajamas, too, so he needed some way to fall asleep in his own bed. Pondering the idea, she nodded. "Okay, Kazuya," she said, "I'll read it to you."

"Yaaaaaaaaaay!"

* * *

 _Kazuya's Room_

 _2100 that night…_

* * *

"'Argh! _Why_ did I decide to pick up this grimoire?!' I exclaimed," Suzuka, sitting on Kazuya's bed, read in narrative fashion. "Knowing my luck, it'd be better to have just left it alone, but _noooooo_! 'At least you ain't _dead_ yet, Kinomoto!' _Stupid_ Kasshu!"

Kazuya, who was in bed by that point, was ecstatic at Suzuka's reading style. It seemed like she would be an entertainer if engineering didn't work out for her, at least in his mind, anyway. So far, the protagonist was on a level of rotten luck _worse_ than a certain Academy Student, all without having a clue as to _why_ he had such rotten luck.

Meanwhile, in the Raildex universe, Kamijou Touma sneezed… just as he woke up that July 20th to an apartment that was turned into a sweltering cesspool.

Back in the prime reality, Suzuka was about to continue reading when Kazuya started to let out a rather loud yawn. Turning to face her little brother, she said, "Okay, Kazuya, bedtime."

"But I don't _wanna_ go to bed…" Kazuya complained, before he let out another loud yawn.

"You need your sleep, little brother," Suzuka pointed out as she placed a bookmark in the book and closed it. Getting up off the bed, she walked over to the door. "I'll see you in the morning, Kazuya," she said as soon as she got to the open door, turning off the light in the process.

"G'night, big sis…" Kazuya murmured in his sleep, having fallen asleep near-instantly.

* * *

 _Suzuka's Room_

 _2105 that night…_

* * *

Suzuka was about ready to go under the covers herself, having finished putting everything away that was to be turned in for homework, when she heard her cell go off. "Hmm?" she let out. "Who could be calling me at _this_ time of the day?" Walking over to her cell, she took a look at the caller ID. "Nanoha-chan's inviting me to a group Skype on my phone?" she asked. Taking the phone off the charger, she turned on the call. "Yes, Nanoha-chan?"

* * *

 _Takamachi Residence_

 _Same time…_

* * *

"Did you two get the same sort of weird dream I did?" Nanoha asked.

" _What_ sort _of weird dream, Nanoha?"_ Alisa asked over on her end. _"_ _And this is an_ awfully _early time for dreams, right?"_

"Well, that's the weird thing," Nanoha answered. "I was about to finish my math homework at 2035, give or take, when I started feeling sleepy. Then, as soon as my head hit the pillow, I was dragged into a weird dream about me fighting these giant shadowy ants and a gigantic shadowy _monster_ version of myself!"

" _Nanoha-chan, I hope you're not trying to pull our legs,"_ Suzuka said. _"_ _This really isn't the sort of joke that's funny…"_

"If I _were_ pulling your legs, I'd have said something about it by now," Nanoha answered. "Guys, something weird's going on, I just _know_ it."

" _Relax, Nanoha, we understand."_

" _Mmhmm, we do, Nanoha-chan."_

" _Besides, at least_ one _of us had gotten a strange supercomputer that can help with supernatural functions today, and I_ don't _think it's Suzuka."_

" _Actually, I think Snow White is exactly that, Alisa-chan."_

"What's Snow White?" Nanoha asked.

" _Funny you should ask, Nanoha-chan. Essentially, my mom's ancestor was an outsider of sorts in terms of homeworld, and she was adopted into the Byaku clan, who were sworn enemies of the Tsukimura clan back during the days of Emperor Taika."_

" _Your mom's ancestor was an enemy of your father's clan, Suzuka? And she was an alien,_ too _?!"_

Nanoha raised an eyebrow at that. "Really?" she asked skeptically. "How come we don't see more extraterrestrial signs in you?"

" _Yes, I_ know _it sounds crazy, but it's the only thing that makes sense, Nanoha-chan, Alisa-chan!"_

" _Hey,_ I _believe you, Suzuka! I_ also _have such an artifact, believe it or not! Flame Eyes has been in the family for who_ knows _how long!"_

Before the conversation could continue from there, however, a ringing noise could be heard in all three sets of ears, causing them all to look around… before they lowered their heads and closed their eyes.

" _Can you hear me?"_ the voice of the young man from Nanoha's dream asked them. _"_ _Can you hear my voice?"_

Gasping, Nanoha declared, "It's the same voice from last night's dream, and this afternoon…"

"For _real_ , Nanoha-chan?!" Suzuka could be heard to her left, as if in the same room… with… her…

Nanoha looked at that direction to see Suzuka in her nightgown, as well as Alisa to her right in a seethrough straw-colored nightgown and silk underwear that did _very_ little to hide her curves, all three of them in a dark green room that seemed to focus on keeping them inside the room. "What's going on…?" she questioned.

" _Please listen to me,"_ the voice called out to them. _"_ _You, who can hear my voice, please! Please lend me some of your strength!"_

"The ferret's the one speaking to us…?" Alisa asked.

" _Please! Come to where I am!"_ the ferret's voice called out. _"_ _The time we have left… the danger… it's already too late!"_ With that, the connection cut out, causing all three girls to return to their proper rooms.

* * *

 _Takemoto Veterinary_

* * *

The ferret was wide awake inside the carrying cage it was in, even though its eyes were closed, hoping beyond hope to get some form of help. ' _Please…'_ he thought. ' _Let my voice reach them!'_

At that point, a pair of evil red eyes shone through the window, the owner obscuring the moon enough to let him know he was found by the one he was trying to seal away earlier. Seeing he had no choice, he sought to get the hell out of there, if he couldn't fight back.

* * *

 _Streets of Uminari_

* * *

Nanoha, having met up with Suzuka and Alisa in their street clothes, were now rushing towards the Vet's office. "What *huff* can we *puff* tell *huff* about *puff* this…?" Nanoha asked between breaths of air.

"Not *huff* much *puff* at *huff* this *puff* point…" Suzuka answered.

When they got to the entryway for the Vet's office, Alisa took in a few breaths, before a loud ringing noise hit their ears. "What is with that _ringing_?!" she exclaimed, all three of them covering their ears and closing their eyes.

The three of them waited for the noise to go away for a few seconds… and then, when the noise suddenly stopped, they snapped their eyes open to see a dark purple atmosphere around them. "The _heck_?!" Nanoha questioned.

Shortly after, they heard a crashing noise come from inside the Vet's office, which caused them to rush forward and investigate… long enough for Nanoha to notice the ferret running away from a slimeball monster to her right! "That's…!" she exclaimed, causing the others to look at the sight.

"The little ferret!" Suzuka cried out.

As the three looked at the sight to their right, the ferret ran towards a tree on the property, which was rammed down by means of the slimeball monster. The ferret jumped at the last minute, however, to make it into Nanoha's arms. Luckily, she was standing upright still when she caught the little guy, since landing on her butt would _hurt_!

"Wh-What's going on?!" Nanoha questioned. "What is that?!"

"I don't know, but it sure isn't friendly!" Alisa said.

As the slimeball tried to get out of the mess it was in, the ferret looked at Nanoha and her friends, saying, "You… came for me."

Alisa's eyes widened. "Th-the ferret is talking!" she exclaimed.

Before the others could react to the ferret talking, however, the slimeball began to reorient itself towards the group. With a shared look, the girls started running out of there, leading the slimeball away from the Vet's office.

Nanoha, who was holding onto the ferret at the time, questioned the little guy as they ran, "Um, I think I speak for all of us when I say we don't really understand what's going on here, but… what _is_ that thing?! What's going on?!"

"You're of the proper nature," the ferret said, somewhat ignoring the question. "All of you are, but it seems you two," he gestured to Alisa and Suzuka, "are already unable to take what I can give." Looking back at Nanoha, he asked, "Won't you lend me some of your strength?"

"Proper nature?" Nanoha, Alisa, and Suzuka questioned.

"I've come here from another world in search of something," the ferret answered, before he was interrupted by the sight of monsters not related to the slimeball they saw earlier. "What the…?!" he exclaimed.

" _The monsters that took out Al-Hazard!"_ Yuki's voice could be heard from around Suzuka's neck, revealing the ribbon and gem. " _Tsukimura Suzuka, get ready!"_

"Right!" Suzuka declared, placing her right hand around the gem. "Snow White, set up!"

A bright flash of icy light surrounded Suzuka as the gem itself called out, "Standby Ready! Set Up!" After a few seconds, Suzuka emerged from the bright flash of light in a completely blue outfit, which looked like a form of kimono that showed off a lot of cleavage and did not impede on her movements… and a pair of mostly fingerless black gloves. Atop her head was a pair of white cat ears, while around her neck was the ribbon from earlier, sans the gem. Coming out from below the small of her back, more specifically out of her tailbone, were a pair of white feline tails. On three of the fingers on each glove, the thumb, index, and middle fingers, there was a green crystalline material that seemed to radiate magical energy.

Apparently, that was enough to startle Alisa and Nanoha. "Ack!"

"What are you _wearing_ , Suzuka-chan?!"

Suzuka looked herself over and gave off a low whistle. "Do _I_ look good, or do I look _sexy_?" she asked.

"This is _NOT_ the time for that, Suzuka!"

"Alisa-chan's right! This isn't the _time_ for it!"

Suddenly, Flame Eyes, having been inside Alisa's pocket the whole time, glowed to reveal itself to the group. Alisa looked and picked it up out of her pocket, before she put it around her neck. Picking up the pendant form of Flame Eyes, she called out, "Flame Eyes, set up!"

A bright flash of fiery light surrounded Alisa as the pendant called out, "Standby Ready! Set Up!" When the light vanished, Alisa was in a red lady's variant of a suit of armor, minus the helmet and some sections that would have hidden certain highlights of her sex appeal. In short, her stomach, part of her cleavage, the upper arms, and most of her legs were exposed for the world to see. Her weapon, which looked like a strange version of a gunblade that seemed to double as a whip, had a fiery tint to the blade itself.

Alisa took a look at herself for a few seconds. Looking back up at the monsters, she declared, "Alright, you freaks! Have at you!" With that, she rushed forward and slashed at one, taking it out in one hit.

"Alisa-chan! Wait for me!" Suzuka exclaimed, before she waved an arm in front of her.

"Freezing Nitrogen!" Snow White declared, before several of the monsters were sent flying up into the air because of a few dozen pillars of ice… and the monsters were crushed when they landed.

The ferret looked at the scene in awe for a few more seconds, before he shook his head. "As I was trying to say, I've come here from another world in search of something," he said. "But I may not be able to handle the weight of such a thing alone! That's why…" he turned his attention to Nanoha at that. "I understand it'd be a problem for you, but… I want those with the proper nature to cooperate with me." Getting out of Nanoha's hands and landing on the ground in front of her a foot away, he turned up to face her and said, "I'll repay you! I promise I will! I want you to use the power I carry within me. Use my power… my magical power!"

Before Nanoha could say anything, her mind flashed back to when Aqua was in the area, 11 years prior… of how her own magical power was fully unlocked. She could literally _hear_ the magic unlock within her being. As it stood—

"SCATTER!" Alisa exclaimed as she looked up in the air and dodged what was about to land with Suzuka.

—Nanoha grabbed the ferret and dodged behind a lamp post, as the slimeball turned into a cloud of dark smoke and crashed into where the group was moments before.

"I promise to repay you, so please!" the ferret insisted.

"I get that, but that would go against my duties as an unbiased defender!" Nanoha exclaimed, before she looked at the enemy that had crashed into the ground. "How am I supposed to take care of it, though?"

"Take this!" the ferret caught her attention again, causing her to look at the gem that was around its neck moments before. Now, instead of being around its neck, it was in its mouth.

"It's warm…" Nanoha said as she held it between her thumb and her index finger in her left hand.

"Hold that in your hand, close your eyes, and focus your mind. And then repeat what I say," the ferret said, which prompted Nanoha to do so.

Before the words could be said, though, the red marble called out, "Standby Ready! Keyblade Merging!"

The ferret was understandably confused, until he saw the marble turn into a giant key-shaped sword, one that looked to be made out of red metal and had a heart-shaped outline for key teeth. Where the hilt was, there was something that wouldn't be out of place on a rapier, except on both sides of the crossguard. As a final touch, there was a keychain hanging off of the bottom, which looked like…

"Raising Heart?!" the ferret exclaimed. "B-But _how_?!"

All of a sudden, a flash of light appeared around Nanoha, before it subsided and showed her in a new outfit. This outfit looked like a white and black low-cut, string-tied bikini under an open armored vest, with the left half of the whole outfit being black and the right half white. Nanoha's footwear looked to be sandals that _weren't_ flip flops over a pair of socks that barely reached her heels. "Um… is this normal?" she asked.

The ferret shook his head. "Nope."

All of a sudden, the enemy looked at Nanoha for a few seconds, before it began gathering energy to attack her!

* * *

 **(*Insert music for Little Wish ~Lyrical Step~ by Tamura Yukari*)**

 _make a little wish koron dari mayottari suru keredo  
anata ga ite kureru kara watashi ha egao de imasu genki desu_

 _ah SEROFAN no umi wo koe mori wo koe  
gin no kaze wo nukete tarinai mono sagashiteta  
ah JIORAMA no machi de tada naiteta no  
ano hi sashidasareta atatakai te ni au made_

 _yureru tsukihi no naka de manazashi wo kanjiteta wa  
nee himitsu no kagi wo yatto yatto mitsuketa no_

 _make a little wish REMON iro no tsuki no shizuku atsumete  
atana no yuku sonomichi wo yasashiku terashiteitai  
make a little wish chiisaku temo dekiru koto ga nai kara  
anata ga ite kureru kara watashi ha egao de imasu genki desu_

 _ah utsumukanai de yukou daijoubu  
ano hi sashidasareta yuuki ga kono te ni aru yo  
mabataki wo suru tabi ni yasashisa ga mata umareru  
nee konna itoshisa zutto zutto sodatetai_

 _make a little wish REMON iro no tsuki no shizuku matotte  
KIRARI kagayaite itai anata no genki de itai  
make a little wish ame no hi mo nemurenai yoake ni mo  
anata ga ite kureta kara tobikiri egao deita no konna fuu ni_

 _hanarete ikiru toki mo shinjiru mono ga aru kara  
nee kokoro ha itsumo kitto kitto hitotsu dane_

 _make a little wish REMON iro no tsuki no shizuku atsumete  
atatakai namida ni shite egao no SUBAISU ni shiyou  
make a little wish koron dari mayottari suru keredo  
anata ga ite kureru kara watashi ha egao de imasu genki desu_

* * *

 _Earlier_

 _Royal Cerulean Resort in Cranagan_

 _Administrated World Number 1_

 _1905 Cranagan Time_

* * *

Alicia Testarossa, now age 16 and wearing a sky blue and mint green micro bikini that barely covered her modesty, jumped off the diving board of the swimming pool at the resort, successfully diving into the water safely. The dive wasn't met with much fanfare, but that was because she and her family were the only ones at the pool at this time. She had practiced for her family to watch her, so of _course_ her family would appreciate her diving act.

Family… it was originally only she and her mother that fit the bill in her family, the Testarossa family, especially after her father died in a bank robbery. Still, she had pestered her mother, Presea, to get married again to give her a little sister. Even then, however, her mother had done something normally impossible to do in such short notice… she had given her a clone for a sister that she named Fate.

Well, admittedly, Fate was already almost done when Alicia was revived. However, that didn't mean that there weren't some last-minute adjustments to make to get her ready the year after, which was when Fate was created. Speaking of Fate…

As Alicia popped her head out of the water, she could see Fate, clad in a black and yellow sling bikini, lying on a floatation board, almost as if she were trying to catch some sleep. However, the fact was, she was trying to get some of the last sunlight for the day to get a nice tan. Alicia knew that it would be nice to see her sister in the morning when the tan was already done… and when it was time for their magic training.

"So, Fate," Alicia spoke up, getting her little sister to look at her. "How about you get some fun right now? The water's great, y'know?"

Fate lowered her shades from her eyes. "Unlike _you_ , dearest big sister of mine," she intoned in a deadpan, " _I_ want to make sure that I look good for the Cranagan Ladies Beauty Pageant. As they say, natural sunlight is the best light for a tan." With that, she returned the shades to her eyes, getting back to the task she had set for herself.

Pouting for a few seconds, it didn't take long for Alicia to gain a teasing grin and swim over to her sister, purposefully going underwater to avoid detection until she eventually resurfaced and…

 ***SPLASH!***

…knock her sister off the floatation board into the water.

A few seconds later, Fate resurfaced, sputtering out the pool water that had managed to get into her system. Glaring at Alicia, she exclaimed, "What's the big _idea_ , Alicia?! I was _trying_ to look good for the competition!"

Alicia giggled unrepentantly, before she answered, "You forgot that it's not _looks_ that the judges want us to focus on, Fate, but our youthfulness that goes _with_ our looks. How _else_ are you going to win, _hmm_?"

Fate was about to retort to that when she thought it over. Seeing no other way to win, she decided to make the best of her sister's advice, by doing something that she was unsure if she should do in public with _anyone_ … she gave her sister a surprise open mouth kiss.

Alicia's eyes widened, frantically trying to think of why her sister was doing this, before she saw the mischievous glint in Fate's eyes. Breaking away from the impromptu kiss, she exclaimed, "What the _heck_ , Fate?! Are you _trying_ to make me a full-out _lesbian_?!"

"Nope," Fate answered, popping the 'p'. "I was just following your advice, Alicia."

Alicia pouted again at that. "You're mean, Fate…" she said at last.

"Love you, too, Alicia," Fate replied coyly.

At that moment, Presea, in a blue leotard that left her back fully exposed to above her rear, came wading on up. "Girls, while I know you two would _love_ to experiment," she said in an authoritative tone that caused the two to blush from the implications, "remember not to do so with your little siblings around." With that, she pointed to her right, where the little siblings in question were with their biological dad.

Alicia and Fate turned to see their little siblings, who were the product of the union between their mother and Dylan Ford, an athletic and clean-shaven man with Fuchsia-colored hair and bright yellow eyes in his early 40s. There were the of twins, Cedar and Cameron, who definitely took after their father in terms of looks… at age nine. Then there was the third daughter in the family, Yuuma, who took more after Presea than her elder sisters in terms of appearance at age eight and a quarter. Finally, there were the triplets, Serena, Lizbeth, and Carla, who took after their mother in hair color and their father in eye color at age seven and a half. Fortunately, the kids were playing a game with their father, even if Yuuma was not focusing directly on the game.

"So, mother," Fate spoke up, turning to face Presea. "Is there any chance of you participating in the Cranagan Ladies Beauty Pageant this year, either as a contestant or a judge?"

Before Presea could reply, the door to the swimming pool area slid open, revealing a woman with seafoam green hair in a high ponytail, emerald eyes and three green dots in an upside-down triangle formation on her forehead, in a TSAB uniform. "Pardon the interruption, but I need to speak with Presea Ford and her first two daughters," she said to get everyone's attention, a tone of apology in her voice.

Presea sighed at the TSAB woman's interruption, but called out, "We're in the pool! What do you need?"

The TSAB woman held out a data pad from within her left arm. "I have to show you something important, ma'am," she said. "This data pad is _not_ waterproof, so you'll have to come out, I'm afraid."

Presea sighed, before she waded through the pool with her daughters. When they got to the stairs that led to outside the pool, they stepped out and walked over to their towels, drying off before they walked over to the officer. "What do you have for us, Admiral Lindy Harlaown?" Presea asked.

Lindy handed the datapad over to Presea. "Here," she said. "You might want to read that immediately, then get ready for the assignment."

"Wait, we're going on assignment?!" Alicia exclaimed. "What about the Cranagan Ladies Beauty Pageant?"

"Don't worry," Fate answered as she looked at her sister, "I think we'll be able to finish this in a couple weeks—"

"Actually, this is a long-term mission," Lindy explained, getting the attention of all three. "I had to explain to the judges that you three won't be participating after all, because of the sheer lack of preparation on your end for after this starts." Sighing, she said, "I'm sorry about this…"

"Don't worry about it," Presea answered. "We'll do this. Just let us read over the mission assignment first."

* * *

 _Changing Room_

 _1915 Local Time_

* * *

"So, as it turns out, someone attacked a shipment of Lost Logia enroute to the Lost Logia museum, and we have to seal the shipment away," Presea said as the three changed into their normal clothes, Presea into a violet dress, Alicia in a yellow skirt and a yellow shirt with green stripes along the short sleeved arms that showed off her midriff, and Fate in a black shirt that covered her midriff and a yellow skirt. "We also have to apprehend the criminals behind this, if more than one. Any questions?"

"I have one, mother," Fate answered. "What about the rest of the family?"

At that point, Yuuma came walking in. "Mom, dad said he had an idea for how we could stay together during this mission you'd be on with big sister's Fate and Alicia," she said.

"Really?!" the elder three women exclaimed, turning to face Yuuma.

"Mhmm!" Yuuma nodded. "He suggested we buy a house on the world you'll be going towards for your investigations. That way, we'll be able to stay together longer, and nobody will be in trouble!"

Presea took a moment to ponder the idea, before she saw her eldest daughter's nod in agreement. "Okay, Yuuma," she said. "Could you let your father know that we approve of the plan?"

Yuuma nodded, before she walked back out to the pool.

"Okay, momma," Alicia said, "I hope we get to have some fun where we'll be going."

* * *

L _-class Inter-Dimensional Warship_ Arthra

 _2055 Local Time…_

* * *

"Thank you for taking the whole family with us, Admiral," Presea said to Lindy.

"My pleasure, Presea," Lindy said. "Now, we'll be enroute to Non-Administrated World Number 97 shortly, which is where the shipment of Lost Logia was last located at." Lindy pulled up a map of Interdimensional space to emphasize the point. "I understand that this is going to be a rather long-term mission, mainly upwards of at least a year, since we need to locate all the Lost Logia as swiftly and safely as possible. Any questions so far?" Seeing that she had gotten zero reply to that, she continued, "Good. We hope to find the Lost Logia on Non-Administrated World Number 97's third rock from their star, with possibly whoever survived the explosion, if it boils down to that."

Fate raised a hand.

"Yes, Enforcer Fate?" Lindy asked.

"What if there's someone there with the same sort of talent I have for keys?"

Alicia looked at Fate and whispered for her to hear, "That's TMI, Fate."

Lindy blinked at the question and Alicia's whispered response. "Um…" she said. "It would depend on who or what you're referring to. For now, focus on the mission at hand, but act on that thought at your own discretion should it come to pass." At seeing Fate's nod, she said, "That will be all. Please head to your family in the bunks."

Saluting, the three women then walked off to their families, even while Alicia thought to herself, ' _I wonder how onii-sama's doing?'_

* * *

 _Meanwhile_

 _The World That Never Was_

 _Unknown Time and Unknown Date_

* * *

Number VI of Organization XIII, wearing his hood over his face, suddenly shivered uncontrollably. "Weird… who could be talking about me behind my back?" he asked out loud.

"Depends, I think," the youngest member of Organization XIII answered from under his hood. "Is it Vexen, perhaps? Or the great leader?"

Number VI turned to the youngest member and said, "Number XIII, please make sure that you get ready for your next assignment while I take care of finding the perpetrator."

"Sure, Zexion," Number XIII nodded, before he walked off to get his stuff.

Zexion sighed as he walked off in a different direction. What _was_ he thinking about earlier? Oh, yes, a memory of the past…

* * *

 _11 years before_

 _Radiant Garden_

* * *

Ienzo walked with Alicia over to the library inside the castle grounds, making sure to teach her how to find a book using what was known as the Dewey Decimal System for when they found their way to the books. Given the way each book was categorized, it came as no surprise that the Dewey Decimal System was used.

Eventually, Ienzo asked the girl two years his junior, "Why…?"

"Hmm? Why what?"

"Why 'onii-sama'? We're not family…"

Alicia turned to face him as they walked forward, giggling before she said, "Why, it's because you saved my life and that of my momma! I want to make sure you remember that we're honorary siblings, especially when we aren't blood-related."

Ienzo blushed slightly. "I… guess so…" he got out.

"Then that settles it!" Alicia declared a few moments later. "I'll be the bestest little sister you could've ever wished for alongside whoever becomes our little sister!"

Ienzo smiled slightly. "I… I'd like that…" he said.

* * *

 _Back in the present_

* * *

Zexion sighed again as he thought of that memory. "Of all the possible times to get flashbacks, it had to be _now_?!" he declared. "I better talk with Xemnas about this one…"

"Were you looking for me?"

Zexion turned to face a silver haired Nobody with dark orange eyes, wearing the black robes and hood of the Organization. "Oh, good, I caught you in time," Zexion said. "Listen, is there any chance of purging memories we're better off without?"

"I'm afraid not, Zexion," Xemnas answered, shaking his head. "However, there _is_ a mission I need you to handle, since it seems Saïx made a mistake."

Zexion looked at his superior in surprise. "A mission… involving cleaning up Saïx's mistake?" he asked. "What did he do _this_ time?"

"It would seem that he forgot to capture the seed-esque jewels," Xemnas said, pulling out a drawing of the jewels. "So far, we have everything _except_ those 21 gems, with what we have all the more incentive for us to get the last ones on the list."

"Sir, if you don't mind my asking," Zexion said at a decent pausing point for his boss, "what are you planning for, in regards to the gems?"

"I'll tell you when you return with the gems," Xemnas answered. "Of course, that means any number of them over five."

"Understood," Zexion answered. "I'll go as soon as I finish taking care of Roxas' current assignment."

"Very well," Xemnas acquiesced. "Take care on your current mission."

* * *

 **(*Insert music for Hikari by Utada Hikaru*)**

 _Donna toki datte  
Tada hitori de  
Unmei wasurete  
Ikite kita no ni  
Totsuzen no hikari no naka me ga sameru  
Mayonaka ni_

 _Shizuka ni deguchi ni tatte  
Kurayami ni hikari o ute_

 _Imadoki yakusoku nante fuan ni saseru dake kana  
Negai o kuchi ni shitai dake sa  
Kazoku ni mo shoukai suru yo  
Kitto umaku iku yo_

 _Donna toki datte  
Zutto futari de  
Donna toki datte  
Soba ni iru kara  
Kimi to iu hikari ga watashi o mitsukeru  
Mayonaka ni_

 _Urusai (When you turn my way) toori ni haitte  
Unmei (Take it all the way) no kamen o tore_

 _Sakiyomi no shisugi nante imi no nai koto wa yamete  
Kyou wa oishii mono o tabeyou yo  
Mirai wa zutto saki da yo  
Boku ni mo wakaranai_

 _Kansei sasenaide  
Motto yokushite  
WAN SHIIN zutsu totte  
Ikeba ii kara  
Kimi to iu hikari ga watashi no SHINARIO  
Utsushidasu_

 _Motto hanasou yo  
Mokuzen no ashita no koto mo  
TEREBI keshite  
Watashi no koto dake o miteite yo_

 _Donna ni yokuttatte  
Shinji kirenai ne  
Sonna toki datte  
Soba ni iru kara  
Kimi to iu hikari ga watashi o mitsukeru  
Mayonaka ni_

 _Motto hanasou yo  
Mokuzen no ashita no koto mo  
TEREBI keshite  
Watashi no koto dake o miteite yo_

 _Motto hanasou yo  
Mokuzen no ashita no koto mo  
TEREBI keshite  
Watashi no koto dake o miteite yo_

* * *

 _Next time on Lyrical Hearts:_

" _What's up with this_ outfit _?!"_

" _Receipt Number 21!"_

" _I hope we can get out of this without worry about the police!"_

" _Why is it that I have to clean up after_ Saïx _of all people?!"_

" _Hey, Alisa-chan, Suzuka-chan, how about we play a game?"_

" _I sure hope that I'm not sick from food poisoning…"_

" _I can't believe I_ won _that game!"_

" _Hey, momma, it's time to investigate who could be behind this mess."_

" _Class, we have a new transfer student joining us!"_

" _What would happen if I were a sexy angel, Big Sister Alicia, Big Sister Fate?"_

" _Are you glad to be the family Queen of Chess, aneja?"_

" _Alisa, don't worry about your figure this early."_

" _Big sis, please read to me more of the Inferno Grimoire story?"_

" _Suzuka, I hope you don't try anything related to magical vampirism any time soon…"_

" _Protection_ _!"_

" _Just how powerful is Nanoha's ability to use magic?!"_

" _The name's Axel. Got it memorized?"_

* * *

 **Xamusel: FINISH!**

 **Well… this was proving to be a challenge to get finished in a short amount of time. I had to write almost completely non-stop to get everything done for this chapter and the previous one since 17 days ago (it's almost midnight before July 24th over here… talk about late).**

 **Anyway, if the later scenes are any indication, shit just got real. Here's hoping that Zexion doesn't pose** _ **too**_ **much of a problem…**

…

…

… **oh, who am I** _ **kidding**_ **?! Of** _ **course**_ **the Schemer will pose a humongous problem! Still… well, here's to Nanoha, on the off-chance she can actually beat Ienzo's Nobody.**

 **Now, before I forget, there's a note for you all from Takeshi about how come Raising Heart did what it did. I'll let him take over for now.**

* * *

 **Takeshi Yamato: OK, so, what happened is that this incarnation of Raising/Raging Heart (Either pronunciation works, but I prefer Raging) is a Support Device, meant to work with a Keyblader by merging with their Keyblade. It gives the Keyblader a bit more diversity in spell capability, plus gives them the benefits of a Barrier Jacket. Normal Intelligent Devices or Armed Devices can't be used properly by Keybladers in this story, even back during the days of Al Hazard (or Al-Hazred, whichever pronunciation you want to use - I've seen both), so a device designed to merge with a Keyblade was the best work around Al Hazardian mages could do for Keybladers.**

 **The other option I'd considered was to have RH be the core of an Ancient Keyblade, that either Velkans/Belkans (Like RH, either pronunciation works - I kinda prefer Velka, though, less chance to get confused with the Belka of Ace Combat) or early Midchildans discovered and used to make a Device, and making contact with Nanoha would have allowed it to revert to its original form as a Keyblade.**

 **That's about all I've got - and again, don't expect notes from me on every chapter!**

* * *

 **Xamusel: Sorry about that, Takeshi… well, to continue from where I left off, Zexion will indeed pose a problem, mainly in terms of how he fights as one's worst nightmare. His Lexicon can provide such a measure of accuracy on a foe's weaknesses that it's not even funny.**

 **Now, how about we see ourselves out, then? I'm sure you want to read this as soon as possible, and even review as soon as possible, so… yeah. Also, please, _try_ to figure out the references used in this chapter.  
**

 **Until next time. Keep on braving!  
-Xamusel**


End file.
